After losing a third straight game -- especially by 29 points to a team with a losing record -- a lot of football coaches would have been tempted to conduct tackling drills immediately after the team arrived home.
Ok, it probably wouldn't have happened that way in the NFL, but a pro coach still might have been very tempted to lay down the gauntlet, revoke privileges and hold some very physical practices in the wake of a disappointing stretch.
But Fisher didn't do that after Cincinnati.
He talked with his players like men and focused on corrections and improvement. Fisher thought that he saw a tired football team, so he rearranged the schedule for Thursday to allow players to come in later. He and the Titans staff preached positives as they got ready for Houston.
I don't know about you, but I've never been around a contending team where a football coach took this approach during a mid-season losing streak. But after ten seasons around the man, I have learned to never, ever doubt Jeff Fisher. Experience has taught me that.
In a pre-game interview with Fisher for Titans Radio, I tried to get a grasp on what he was thinking with this approach.
I knew that he didn't like losing.
I knew that he didn't like the way that his team was playing.
But I just got a sense that he likes this football team and believes in them.
Exactly, Fisher said.
The team was working hard, in spite of the losses. On film, they were closer than people could see. Fisher just felt that if the Titans kept banging on the door, they would eventually kick it down.
And in the third quarter against the Texans, they did. Tennessee played its finest quarter of 2007 in every phase of the game. In the process, the Titans players validated their coach's approach.
I would love to be in the team meetings this week.
I would love to hear Fisher's speeches about the 7-5 San Diego Chargers, a team that can win the AFC West with a victory at LP Field on Sunday (and a Denver loss to KC).
I'm wondering how much Fisher might mention what happened last September in San Diego, when the Chargers laid a 40-7 whipping on the Titans. Due to the dominance of the Chargers that day some fifteen months ago, it was the kind of defeat that no one could soon forget.
I would love to hear Fisher talk about how Tennessee needs to play this one, where they need to improve, how they slow LT, Gates and Merriman, etc. I would love to be a fly on the wall just to find out his approach this week.
I'm fascinated by how a coach gets a team ready. Last week's approach by Jeff Fisher fueled that fascination again.
This week, the game is bigger and the stakes are even higher.
Just the type of week where Jeff Fisher normally does his best work.
