Ken Whisenhunt-Marcus Mariota Was Shortest-Lived Coach/Highly Drafted QB Pairing Since Gilbride-Leaf in 1998

Ken Whisenhunt was fired yesterday, seven games into his second season in Tennessee. That is an almost historic early exit for a coach getting to work with a new, highly drafted QB. It started so promisingly for Whisenhunt and the Titans in the Marcus Mariota era, when Mariota came out and posted a perfect passer rating in the season-opening win at Tampa Bay.

This tweet sums up the Titans’ experience in the Whisenhunt era.

They won the opener both years and then things went south quickly.

When Mariota went down with the knee injury, Whisenhunt was very vocal in his criticism of the Dolphins’ Olivier Vernon, probably because he felt the heat and knew Mariota on the field was his only hope.

As it turns out, Whisenhunt becomes only the second coach since the AFL-NFL merger to get a top five rookie pick at QB, and then get fired before completing that next season. The only other one? Kevin Gilbride getting fired six games into the Ryan Leaf experience. I was at the game where Leaf went 1 for 15 for 4 passing yards at Arrowhead in September of that year, which was the swift beginning of the end, and prompted his locker room tantrum.

Here’s a list of all the head coaches who were fired within one season of their team drafting a quarterback with a top 5 pick:

• Kevin Gilbride (1998): Ryan Leaf, 6 games
• Ken Whisenhunt (2015): Marcus Mariota, 7 games
• Marty Morninwheg (2002): Joey Harrington, 1 season
• Homer Rice (1979): Jack Thompson, 1 season
• Ed Hughes (1971): Dan Pastorini, 1 season

In addition, Blanton Collier retired at the end of the season after the Browns drafted Mike Phipps in 1970, due to hearing problems.