The Tennessee Titans have officially completed their first interview to fill their vacant head coach position per a team announcement Friday, having spoken to Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.

Callahan has been the Bengals’ offensive coordinator since 2019. Prior to arriving in Cincinnati, he spent time as an assistant coach with the Denver Broncos (2011-15), Detroit Lions (2016-17) and Oakland Raiders (2018). He’s the son of former Raiders coach Bill Callahan.

Callahan’s most notable achievement in Cincinnati has been the way he’s helped develop quarterback Joe Burrow into one of the league’s best and most prolific passers. The Bengals ranked top-eight in the NFL in scoring and passing while Burrow led the NFL in completion percentage in 2021 and took the team to a Super Bowl appearance in just his second NFL season. The next season, even as defenses adjusted to the Bengals’ offense and forced Burrow to rely less on a vertical passing attack, Cincinnati still ranked No. 5 in the league in passing yards and won the AFC North while scoring an average of 26 points per game.

Burrow played through various injuries and missed much of the second half of the 2023 season, but that didn’t limit Callahan and the Bengals’ passing attack. Making the first appearances of his career at 27 years old, backup Jake Browning completed a league-leading 70.4% of his passes and posted a 98.4 passer rating while throwing for 1,936 yards and 12 touchdowns in nine games. For comparison, Titans rookie Will Levis threw for 1,808 yards and eight touchdowns in nine games on 12 more pass attempts.

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Callahan isn’t the sole offensive mastermind behind the Bengals’ success. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor calls the offensive plays and had a major role in designing the scheme.

But the Bengals’ success hasn’t solely relied on Taylor mimicking the schemes of his former boss Sean McVay. Burrow and Browning ranked last and second to last in the NFL in intended air yards per attempt last season, meaning the Bengals’ offense was deliberately based around shorter, quicker pass attempts to get players in space.

There’s also been more to Cincinnati’s success than quarterback play. Running back Joe Mixon has been one of the league’s most consistent performers since Taylor and Callahan got to Cincinnati, and receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have emerged as two of the league’s best pass catchers. Higgins, a Tennessee native, is a free agent this offseason.

The Tennessee Titans' coaching search

Callahan is one of nine candidates the Titans have reportedly reached out to for an interview. The rest of the list consists of: Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, Las Vegas Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce and Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.

Per NFL rules, teams with coaching vacancies can't conduct in-person interviews with any candidates currently employed by NFL teams until after the completion of the divisional round of the playoffs. Additionally, teams can't interview candidates from staffs participating in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs until three days after that team's playoff game. Teams with vacancies are allowed to interview coaches who are not currently employed by NFL franchises such as college coaches or coaches between jobs at any point.

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The Titans fired coach Mike Vrabel on Tuesday after six seasons. Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk cited a goal of building a more aligned and collaborative organization in the aftermath of the Vrabel firing.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans interview Bengals OC Brian Callahan for coach opening