Brian Callahan justified ripping Will Levis’ carelessness in public after another boneheaded turnover

The Tennessee Titans might have themselves a Will Levis problem. And I don’t mean in the sense that he can’t run a functional offense — he might be able to … to an extent.

I mean that Levis seems to have a penchant for forcing the issue for no good reason. That leads him to make some of the silliest possible turnovers that cost the Titans dearly. During Sunday’s loss against the New York Jets, it was a red-zone fumble on a shovel pass while Levis was getting sacked. (Note to all quarterbacks: Eating the sack sometimes is OK!)

For all intents and purposes, Levis might be the funniest NFL quarterback to watch right now. Except Titans head coach Brian Callahan isn’t laughing.

One week after Callahan publicly blasted Levis for throwing a devastating, game-losing pick-six to the Chicago Bears, the coach was caught on camera asking an NSFW question to Levis after his silly shovel fumble. And when asked to clarify his thoughts about Levis’s latest foolish turnover after the game, Callahan doubled down on harshly critiquing his quarterback in public.

I’m not sure this will end the way Callahan hopes it will:

#Titans HC Brian Callahan on Will Levis’ red zone fumble:

“It was dumb. It was the same exact thing he did last week, and he cost us points in the red zone, and it is what it is. He’s a grownup and he knows better and so I was really irritated that he cost us three points in a… pic.twitter.com/1jSuKTxMC4

— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) September 16, 2024

I understand Callahan’s plan. He’s trying to institute more of a “tough love” principle with a still-developing young quarterback. But let me tell you this. Levis is a human being. And human beings, especially extremely athletic ones playing in massive multi-billion dollar sports leagues, usually don’t respond well to being thrown to the wolves by the person who is supposed to be their mentor and best friend. They’re already under so much pressure to succeed. They need someone in their corner more than anything.

Maybe Levis will eventually respond to Callahan’s public criticisms with a sparkling, dominant performance. He might be tougher than I think. It can happen! But to me, Callahan is playing with fire. The more likely outcome with Levis is the quarterback continuing to unnecessarily press out of stress and a belief that he now has to prove himself even more.

Callahan may well come to regret this approach soon enough.