Titans CEO Says 'We're Sorry' for the 0-5 Start and Backs Saleh Anyway

The Tennessee Titans have apologised for their season and promised not to fire anyone, in the same interview. Chief executive Burke Nihill told ESPN on Friday that the club is sorry for its 0-5 start and has let its fans down. He then backed head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Mike Borgonzi to fix it, at a franchise that has fired a coach or a general manager in each of the last four years.

What did Nihill apologise for on Friday?

For the whole product, in plain words. The first thing he would say to the fans, Nihill said, is that the club is sorry, that nobody in the building does not feel a sense of grief about it, and that the organisation has let its fans down because football is supposed to be fun, NBC Sports reports. He added that 0-5 is not nearly good enough and has not been for a while. The numbers behind the apology are stark: Tennessee’s offence ranks last in the league at 246.4 yards and 11.6 points per game, its defence has forced two turnovers, and the club has lost 33 of its last 39 games, RG.org reports. Apologies from chief executives usually arrive with a change attached. This one arrived with the opposite.

Why is the vote of confidence the bigger half of the story?

Because Tennessee’s recent history runs the other way. The Titans fired general manager Jon Robinson during the 2022 season, head coach Mike Vrabel after 2023, general manager Ran Carthon after 2024 and head coach Brian Callahan during 2025, NBC Sports reports. Against that record, Nihill said he personally feels a sense of stability, believes Borgonzi and Saleh will ultimately get the team out of the woods, and described a train that is on the tracks and has not picked up momentum yet, the New York Post reports. Owner-level patience has been the story elsewhere this month too, from Gayle Benson calling the Saints’ 1-4 start not acceptable while naming her own leadership to Sean McVay saying he was sick over his own overtime call. Nihill’s version is the gentlest of the three, and the only one paired with an apology.

Who is Nihill speaking for?

For the owner, which is what gives the pledge its weight. Nihill is authorised to speak on behalf of controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk, NBC Sports reports, so his confidence in Saleh and Borgonzi reads as the franchise’s official position rather than one executive’s opinion. That matters for how the next weeks get read. A head coach at 0-5 whose chief executive has just apologised for the record and endorsed him in the same breath is not coaching for his job on Sunday in the usual sense. He is coaching against a public promise, and breaking public promises is the one move this franchise has not yet tried in its firing cycle.

What did Saleh say for himself?

That adversity is the material, not the verdict. Saleh said the team is going through a lot of adversity, that capturing it the right way produces growth, and that the sun is going to shine on the organisation eventually, the New York Post reports. It is his first season in Tennessee after a year coordinating San Francisco’s defence, following his Jets tenure from 2021 to 2024. Broadcast criticism has followed other struggling coaches this month, including Ryan Fitzpatrick calling Bo Nix’s effort garbage on a postgame show, but Saleh’s pressure is internal and historical at once: the building he works in has changed its football leadership every year since 2022.

What happens next in Tennessee?

The schedule decides how long stability stays credible. Tennessee is one of three winless teams, with a minus-51 point differential, and the losing streak stands at seven dating to last season, RG.org reports. Every further defeat tests a pledge that was unusually specific: not just support for the coach, but support framed as organisational belief, delivered by the owner’s authorised voice, alongside an admission that the fans have been let down. The desk has tracked how quickly these positions move, from a kicker’s leg swing becoming a league story to front offices acting within days of public pressure. For now, the Titans’ position is written down in their chief executive’s own words. Sorry, and staying.