Marcus Mariota is no longer the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans. According to NFL Media, the Titans have benched Mariota for this week’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers. The new starting quarterback will be Ryan Tannehill who joined the team this offseason from the Miami Dolphins.
So far this season, Mariota, who was drafted by the Titans No. 2 overall in 2015, has struggled to get anything going this season, completing 59 percent of his passes and he’s been sacked a league-leading 25 times. Last Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, the Oregon alum completed 38 percent of his passes for 63 yards and threw two interceptions in a 16-0 loss to the Denver Broncos. He was benched in the third quarter for Tannehill in that game.
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On Monday, head coach Mike Vrabel said he would make a decision on who will start at QB in the next 24 hours.
“I think a decision will be made this evening, or tomorrow, and we’ll let everybody know – we’ll let the players involved know, and let the team know and then let you guys know,” Vrabel said during a press conference. “I just want to make sure we are going through everything that we need to go through and what we are doing offensively, and not use the emotion of the game to make a decision.”
Vrabel went on to say the decision he makes at QB won’t be something he will do on a week-to-week basis.
“It is just a critical position at any level,” Vrabel said. “They are the leader of the football team, they have the ball in their hands a 100 percent of the time. We are going to take it one day at a time, but I don’t think that the answer is a revolving door at that position or at any position. You’d like to have some continuity. … I think there’s a lot of factors (in making the decision). Again, there are things we’ll talk about and just try and come up with the best decision moving forward with the team.”
Mariota has put together a solid career. His best season was in 2016 when he posted 3,426 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions. However, he has a win-loss record of 29-32 and the team and he has led the team to the playoffs just once.
Tannehill was drafted by the Dolphins No. 8 overall in 2012. He was traded to the Titans back in March and has won 42 of the 88 games he has started in the NFL.
