Titans Turmoil

The Vince Young and Jeff Fisher saga is getting as messy as the ending of a bad Hollywood relationship. Coach Jeff Fisher reportedly told Young not to attend a team meeting being held yesterday. Initially the Tennessean reported, citing unidentified sources that Young was in the training room Monday when he was asked to leave the facility by the quarterbacks coach and told he wasn’t wanted in the building after what happened Sunday. The newspaper said Young left without incident. The story was later refuted by Fisher on his radio show but he did confirm that he sent an assistant coach to inform Young that he was not to attend the team meeting. Fisher also said that he hasn’t spoken with Young since he stormed out of the locker room after Sunday’s game. Bud Adams stated that the two will just have to work it out and the story will blow over after a few days. Adams also went on to say that he wants Young to be in the team’s plan in the future. “It is one of those things that happened” Adams said but I think he is underestimating just how bad the rift between Young and Fisher is.

So you have your quarterback who acted out like a high school freshman throwing a temper tantrum after not getting to play when trainers and the coach clearly didn’t think he was healthy enough to play. A coach who seems to never really been fond of his supposedly franchise QB, and doesn’t sound interested to talk to him either after their confrontation. And lastly an owner who thinks the two guys just need to sit down and sing Cum-bi-ya together and everything will go away. This is what makes this situation so defective. All three involved in this stand off have different views of the situation. Young believes he was slighted by Fisher and acted selfishly and immature in the aftermath, Fisher, who would rather have anyone else start at this point than Young and wants to wash his hands of him completely and the disillusioned owner in Adams who doesn’t want to play sides with the two but seems to really have an affection for Young no matter what he does.

This is a toxic mix of motives and ideas. I just don’t see a resolution in this other than one of the two being exited from the organization. The writing is on the wall for Young or Fisher. The two don’t seem to be able to co-exist in a productive manner. You know it’s bad when you have Randy Moss playing the peacemaker on the sidelines. Neither trusts the other and no other position on the field needs trust more than the QB to the coach. Look at the most successful franchises over the last decade in New England with Brady and Belicheck and Indianapolis with Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy in the beginning and now with Jim Caldwell. Could you imagine either one of those teams going through this kind of chaos? Me either. It goes without saying that the QB and the coach have to be on the same page in order for the entire team to be successful, and New England and Indianapolis prove that. When you look at the relationship Fisher had with the late Steve McNair, you can clearly the trust was there and that led to great things as the Titans had there greatest seasons in that era.

In summarizing, this is a story that is not going anywhere anytime soon. It has dominated national news and we’re not even going to speak about the way its being covered by the local media here in Nashville. This has become a fire storm of a topic. I can’t dodge it myself, as every time I talk sports to my friends and family it is all they want to talk about. It may die down in importance as the season wears on but one thing is for sure in my mind. Either Vince Young or Jeff Fisher will be gone after this season. Bud Adams will ultimately have to make that unsavory decision and it will be a tough one but its one that has to be made. Who would you rather see leave Nashville: Fisher or Young?