Titans are off to their worst start since 2015 and looking for answers with a 1st-year coach

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans never saw this coming, and now their challenge is trying to salvage something from a 1-6 start that is the franchise's worst since 2015.

The Titans spent a lot in free agency and draft capital to give first-year coach Brian Callahan plenty of help.

Callahan said Monday he knows the Titans have no proof for their hard work. He didn't ask for trust and said there's no “sugar-coating” with Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk.

“It’s a production-based business and a results-based business. We’re 1-6, and that is what it is,” Callahan said. “But I do have faith in where we’re headed, and I do have faith in how we go about our business here and what that’s going to bring for us.”

That 2015 start cost Ken Whisenhunt his job 23 games into his tenure. The Titans' biggest problem now is that Strunk has a general manager in his second season with a first-year coach in Callahan and no results to show for all the investment.

The Titans have been outscored 86-24 over their past two road losses combined after a 52-14 rout in Detroit that was the fourth-worst loss by point margin since this franchise became the Titans in 1999.

Worse, any flashes of improvement continue being drowned out by turnovers, penalties and other mistakes.

Only Carolina (1-7) has a worse record thanks to the Titans having their bye Oct. 6, and Tennessee is closer to being eliminated from playoff contention with a measly 2% chance at the postseason — worst in the AFC.

The defense. The Titans put the offense in good position starting the game by forcing a Detroit three-and-out. They had three sacks in the first quarter and finished with four. They lead the NFL in both giving up a league-low 265.4 yards per game and 151.6 yards passing.

Unfortunately, four turnovers and long returns allowed on special teams left Tennessee with too many short fields to defend. They gave up five touchdowns with the longest drive 26 yards.

Special teams. They gave up a 72-yard kickoff return and 190 yards on punt returns, including a 90-yarder for a touchdown by a former Titans receiver in Kalif Raymond.

The Titans are last in the NFL in allowing 18.2 yards on punt returns and next to last on kickoff return coverage. Punter Ryan Stonehouse has a powerful leg but needs to better angle his punts to help his teammates. Callahan said the hangtime was around 4 seconds, which isn't enough.

Callahan said he will watch film with coordinator Colt Anderson and what schemes can be tweaked. The coach also defended Anderson, saying personnel was changed after giving up a couple of blocked punts early this season. That sacrificed some speed and coverage ability.

Hey Calvin Ridley! The high-priced free agent finally came through with his best game for his new team and best in a couple of seasons. He caught every pass in the first quarter for 118 yards and finished with a season-high 10 catches for 143 yards.

That was a massive improvement for a receiver targeted 23 times with five catches for 26 yards total over his past four games.

Mason Rudolph. Yes, the backup quarterback got the offense moving and putting up lots of yards. He also stared down a receiver on one of his two interceptions. Rudolph finished completing 57.9% of his passes and threw incomplete on four attempts on first-and-goal from the 1 at the end of the first half.

Callahan said he's optimistic quarterback Will Levis might be closer to 100% after having two games off to heal sprained right AC joint in his throwing shoulder. The coach said he didn't have any new injuries to report from the game.

The challenge will be if CB L'Jarius Sneed (quadriceps) and RB Tyjae Spears (hamstring) have a chance to return after missing two straight games.

16 — The number of turnovers by the Titans that are next to last in the NFL. Combined with only three takeaways, they are tied with the Raiders for last in turnover margin.

Try to win at home for the first time this season by hosting New England (2-6) on Sunday. Then hit the road to visit the Chargers in a season going nowhere fast — except to a top draft pick in April.

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Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs into the end zone for a touchdown past Tennessee Titans cornerback Darrell Baker Jr. (39) and linebacker Jack Gibbens (50) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley (0) makes a catch past Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch (32) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Mason Rudolph (11) runs into the end zone for a touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, right, celebrates a touchdown with teammates during the first half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Mason Rudolph addresses the media after an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Tennessee Titans head coach Bria Callahan looks onto the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday as widening protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating tensions between the countries after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June.

At least eight people have been killed so far in violence surrounding the demonstrations, which were sparked in part by the collapse of Iran’s rial currency but have increasingly seen crowds chanting anti-government slogans.

The protests, now in their sixth day, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.

Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without elaborating.

Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, alleged that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the demonstrations. He offered no evidence to support the allegation, which Iranian officials have repeatedly made during years of protests sweeping the country.

“Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. interests,” Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks. “The people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers.”

Larijani’s remarks likely referenced America’s wide military footprint in the region. Iran in June attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after the U.S. strikes on three nuclear sites during Israel's 12-day war on the Islamic Republic. No one was injured, though a missile did hit a structure there.

As of Friday, no major changes had been made to U.S. troop levels in the Middle East or their preparations following Trump’s social media posts, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.

In a letter late Friday to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the U.N. Security Council, Iran's envoy asked the world body to condemn the rhetoric and reaffirm the country's "inherent right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security, and to protect its people against any foreign interference.”

“The United States of America bears full responsibility for any consequences arising from these unlawful threats and any ensuing escalation," said Amir Saeid Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the U.N.

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who previously was the council’s secretary for years, separately warned that “any interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut.”

Trump's online message marked a direct sign of support for the demonstrators, something other American presidents have avoided out of concern that activists would be accused of working with the West. During Iran's 2009 Green Movement demonstrations, President Barack Obama held back from publicly backing the protests — something he said in 2022 “was a mistake.”

But such White House support still carries a risk.

“Though the grievances that fuel these and past protests are due to the Iranian government’s own policies, they are likely to use President Trump’s statement as proof that the unrest is driven by external actors,” said Naysan Rafati, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

“But using that as a justification to crack down more violently risks inviting the very U.S. involvement Trump has hinted at,” he added.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei recently cited a list of Tehran’s longtime grievances regarding U.S. intervention, including a CIA-backed coup in 1953, the downing of a passenger jet in 1988 and the strikes in June.

Protests continued Friday in various cities in the country, even as life largely continued unaffected in the capital, Tehran. Demonstrations have reached over 100 locations in 22 of Iran's 31 provinces, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. It said the death toll in the demonstrations rose to eight with the death of a demonstrator in Marvdasht in Iran's Fars province.

Demonstrators took to the streets in Zahedan in Iran's restive Sistan and Baluchestan province on the border with Pakistan. The burials of several demonstrators killed in the protests also took place Friday, sparking marches.

Videos purported to show mourners chasing off security force members who attended the funeral of 21-year-old Amirhessam Khodayari. He was killed Wednesday in Kouhdasht, over 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran in Iran's Lorestan province.

Footage also showed Khodayari's father denying his son served in the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as authorities claimed. The semiofficial Fars news agency later reported that there were now questions about the government's claims that he served.

Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran’s rial has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. That sparked the initial protests.

The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran’s theocracy as well. Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since the June war.

Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

A woman shows a portrait of the late commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, on her smartphone during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People wave Iranian flags as one of them holds up a poster of the late commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This combo shows President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. and Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Bilal Hussein)