The Indianapolis Colts might have had a brutal end to the 2025 season, but at least they weren't defeated by the Tennessee Titans. The Titans finished last in the AFC South, looked fairly lost much of the year, and moved on from two different head coaches during the season.
This offseason, the Titans hired former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh to be their next head man. Saleh was the San Francisco 49ers' defensive coordinator in 2025. He is a good coach who should be able to make Tennessee better.
The odd part was that Saleh decided to take an assistant coach from San Francisco to Nashville with him, and the name will be familiar to Colts fans. Gus Bradley will be the Titans' defensive coordinator. The same Bradley who was Indy's DC from 2022 through 2024. He wasn't very good with Indianapolis.
Former Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley has been hired by the Tennessee Titans
The truth is that Bradley has only ever seemed to be as good as his players. In other words, his scheme doesn't necessarily elevate the talent given to him. His best seasons were in 2011 and 2012 with the Seattle Seahawks, a team with a young Legion of Boom, and the 2017 and 2018 Los Angeles Chargers.
In every other season except 2017, Bradley's teams, either when he was a head coach or defensive coordinator, had a defense that ranked 23rd or worse in points allowed. Bradley has had five good seasons and 11 bad ones. Three of those came with the Colts when Indianapolis' defense ranked 28th twice in points allowed, and 24th in the third year.
To be sure, Robert Saleh is going to have a lot of input into how the Tennessee Titans' defense shapes up. He wouldn't have been hired unless the team felt certain the defensive-minded head coach could improve that side of the ball.
But he is still tasked with overseeing the entire team, just as Shane Steichen is with the Indianapolis Colts. Saleh hasn't proven yet that he can manage that. He was fired by the Jets midway through the 2024 season after accruing a 20-36 record. Not that Bradley was any better as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2012 through most of 2016. He went 14-48 before being fired.
None of that means that the Titans won't improve, but they still need to add a lot of talent. The Colts, as long as they can stay healthy, should look a lot more like the first half of 2025 in 2026 than the second half. That should equate to two more wins over Gus Bradley and the Tennessee Titans.