Nepo Baby Head Coach Admits ‘Massive Mistake’ in Loss to Broncos
While this probably doesn’t fall under the “You Only Had One Job” moniker, it’s pretty darn close.
Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan admitted he made a massive mistake in a 20-12 Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos in which he incorrectly decided not to challenge a call that ruled a 23-yard catch made by rookie wide receiver Elic Ayomanor.
Ayomanor managed to make the catch and get his elbow down before going out of bounds.
“An elbow doesn’t equal two feet, so his foot would’ve had to come down as well,” Callahan said after the game on September 7.
That’s not accurate. NFL rules state either 2 feet need to come down inbounds or any body part other than the hand.
“My interpretation of the rule was wrong,” Callahan told ESPN’s Turron Davenport on September 8. “I’ll own it. I didn’t do a good enough job in that moment, and I should have challenged it, and it probably would’ve resulted in a potential explosive play. “I misspoke. I’m well aware of the rule, I understand how it works, and the way that I articulated it afterwards was incorrect. And I understand the rules of this game pretty well.”
In all reality, Callahan does not. His coaching to this point in his career kind of reflects that.
Callahan, 41 years old, is in his second season as Tennessee’s head coach and it very well could be his last — he went 3-14 in his first season in 2024 and a repeat performance could earn him his walking papers.
Callahan’s Gilded Path To Becoming NFL Head Coach
Nepo Babies aren’t just for Hollywood.
The NFL has plenty of them as well, with Callahan just being the latest example. He’s the son of former NFL head coach and University of Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan, who is currently the Titans offensive line coach.
Interestingly enough, Bill Callahan’s NFL head coaching career only lasted 2 seasons with the Oakland Raiders, where he led the franchise to the Super Bowl in 2002 before he was fired after going 4-12 in 2003.
Bill Callahan got another shot as a head coach at Nebraska from 2004 to 2007, where he was fired after going 27-22 in 4 seasons, including a 15-17 record in Big 12 play.
Brian Callahan made his way up the coaching ranks as an assistant for the Broncos, Detroit Lions and Raiders before spending 5 seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals from 2019 to 2023 before he was hired by the Titans.
Nepo Baby Head Coaches In NFL: Nothing New
Callahan isn’t the first NFL head coach to have gotten a job based solely on his name.
Legendary Miami Dolphins head coach and 2-time Super Bowl champion Don Shula’s son, Dave Shula, went 19-52 as the head coach of the Bengals from 1992 to 1996.
Current San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is the son of 2-time Super Bowl champion head coach Mike Shanahan and was 70-62 headed into his ninth season in 2025.
Rex Ryan, the son of legendary NFL defensive coordinator and former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan, is perhaps the famous Nepo Baby NFL head coach of all time — he went 61-66 over 8 seasons as the head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.
Packers’ Colby Wooden Fires Back at Critics After Dominant Run Defense Performance
Micah Parsons, a contrarian opinion had taken hold, too–the Packers defense would get chewed up in the running game.Three days before the Packers were to play the Detroit Lions in their 2025 opener, defensive lineman Colby Wooden got a phone call. It was his father. While much attention had been foisted on the Packers in recent days after the stunning trade for pass-rusher
The Packers had to trade away stalwart defensive lineman Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, and the feeling was, that would be costly in the team’s efforts to handle the run. Detroit, after all, rushed for 2,488 yards last season, sixth in the NFL. Without Clark, surely the Packers would be in trouble.
Wooden, who is helping replace Clark in the middle, took the call from his dad, who said, “Do me a favor, shut ‘em up.”
And he, along with the entire Packers defensive front, did just that, holding the Lions to 46 yards on 22 carries, their lowest rushing output since Week 6 in 2023. Wooden, Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks held the line admirably in the middle all day for the Packers.
Colby Wooden: ‘I Took That Personal’
Wooden, for one, was insulted by the questions about the team’s inability to hold against the run.
“I for sure took that personal …” Wooden said. “So I just, did my job, went out there, stopped the run. I took it personal. Honestly, I felt like it was kinda disrespectful, like, ‘Oh, they gonna run the ball.’ So I made it my mission—we, excuse me—we made it our mission to shut them down.”
That’s not easy to do against the combo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles.
“We know what they want to do,” Wooden said. “Last year, they wanted to run. They call them Sonic and Knuckles, or whatever. They want to run them 30 times. So we know they want to run that ball. We’ve got to do our job to stop the run so they can get back and let (Parsons) go get them.”
Packers Filling Roles With Micah Parsons on Board
Wooden said the effect of having Parsons on the field was obvious, and it works both ways. When offenses focus on corralling Parsons, the other Packers must step up.
“Everybody’s got a job to do, everybody got a role,” Wooden said. “Everybody’s got to buy into their role. We know what attention and what he comes with. And we know we got to stop that run, go help him out, if he is getting is getting chipped, doubled or whatever, now it’s somebody else’s turn to win their one-on-one.”
Packers Have Commanders Next
And despite the obviously encouraging results, Wooden is not getting ahead of himself. The Commanders will be next on the docket, with fearsome young quarterback Jayden Daniels on hand.
“It’s just one week,” Wooden said. “It’s Week 1. It’s great to start off with a win, dominate. But we’ve got to keep it going. We got a good team coming here on Thursday, we know we got to be ready to stop that run and contain that quarterback. So we just gotta keep going, keep getting better, keep jelling.”
