The NFL is known for its unforgiving nature, but sometimes, those on their way out can find a way to have the last laugh. That’s exactly what former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Mularkey did before his firing in January 2018 following the team’s playoff loss to the New England Patriots.
Speaking on Action Sports Jax’s Brent & Austen, Mularkey shared how he played a clever prank on the Titans’ ownership and front office by feeding misinformation to one of the league’s top insiders, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Mularkey told Rapoport that he was about to receive a contract extension, knowing full well he was about to be fired.
“The best thing I did there at the end, which I can now talk about, was when I got called in that Monday morning after the New England game,” Mularkey explained. “I knew they were going to fire me. So, Sunday night, I called Ian Rapoport and said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you know this, but I’m getting a new contract in the morning.’
“And he reported that. It was all over the country [that] I was getting a contract, knowing that I was going to get fired. But I just wanted to see the faces on the owner and the GM who were out to get me. And I’m pretty sure I got them for a minute or two. When I walked in the next morning, there wasn’t a whole lot of conversation.”
The seeds of Mularkey’s departure were sown late in the 2017 season when the Titans lost consecutive games to the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers. Although the team rebounded and secured a playoff spot, Rapoport had reported that a loss in the Wildcard Round to the Kansas City Chiefs could likely mark the end of Mularkey’s time as head coach.
However, the Titans pulled off a shocking win over Kansas City before suffering a lopsided defeat against New England in the AFC Divisional Round. Following the loss, the Titans reportedly asked Mularkey to fire offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie—a request Mularkey refused. That refusal, coupled with the team’s inconsistency, ultimately led to his dismissal.
While the situation didn’t end well for Mularkey in Tennessee, his parting prank allowed him to control part of the narrative and momentarily catch his critics off guard. It’s a rare bit of levity in the often ruthless world of NFL business.
