Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak said he doesn't blame owner Bud Adams for his comments following Sunday's embarrassing 51-20 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Adams has been down the road of criticizing his team and coaches in the media before, and Sunday's comments in a published report that the team was “outcoached” and “outplayed,” and Munchak said Monday that such comments were certainly not out of line.
“Obviously Mr. Adams is very much entitled to his opinion and I probably would have said the same thing if I were him. This is his team,” Munchak said. “He expects us to play well, especially at home. That's our job. That's my job to make sure we're out there playing our best, and winning games at home hopefully every time we line up. And we didn't do that and we didn't play well, and I'd be upset too if I were him.”
While everyone's job security, including Munchak's has been called into question, the coach said he knows the responsibility of fixing the team's many shortcomings in a 3-6 season lies with him.
“As a head coach I'm responsible to put a team out there that is ready to play and that the city can be proud of. And we can get in the playoffs like the plan is to do. And the last weeks we haven't done that,” Munchak said.
Munchak reiterated that he has no plans as of now to make any changes on his coaching staff.
"Right now, I'm not planning on making any changes. I could make a change three weeks from now, but we're moving forward. And I'm not spending my time thinking of making coaching changes," he said.
Unacceptable
Among the many issues the Titans had Sunday was the fact that on two consecutive plays, they were whistled for illegal formation penalties because they had covered the tight end in their alignment with a receiver, making the tight end ineligible as a receiver.
“It shouldn't happen. No matter what formation is called or who is responsible, if you have three guys next to each other, a tight end and two receivers, they should communicate who is on the line, two back and one up. … That should not happen,” Munchak said, while refusing to identify the guilty party or parties.
Injuries
Guard Leroy Harris admitted Monday that he has a partially torn ACL in his right knee and his season could be over.
Harris will head to Atlanta on Tuesday for a second opinion with a knee specialist to determine if he needs season-ending surgery or not.
Safety Al Afalava will miss two to three weeks with a high ankle sprain in his right ankle.
Linebacker Xavier Adibi stretched some ligaments in his knee and could miss some time as well.
- Terry McCormick
- co-publiser of TitanInsider - Lions247