Titans' Brian Callahan can be frustrated, but Vikings were simply more disciplined

The Titans were penalized 13 times compared to three accepted flags against the Vikings.

Nov 17, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan hug after the game during the post game at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Brian Callahan was furious on the sidelines a number of times during Minnesota's 23-13 win over the Titans on Sunday. Whether it was their right tackle being misaligned or the officials throwing controversial flags, it was a frustrating afternoon for the first-year Tennessee head coach.

Nothing made him angrier than when the Titans were called for unnecessary roughness on a fourth down play in the end zone that wound up turning Minnesota's turnover on downs into a first-and-goal situation from the 1-yard line. One play later it was touchdown Vikings.

"I saw a hit that was level with the shoulder pads to the body. That's what I saw," Callahan said of safety Mike Brown's hit on Jordan Addison that was penalized.

What feedback did Callahan get from the official after the call? "Yeah, nothing," he said.

Did the officials later acknowledge that they got the call wrong?

"No, absolutely not," Callahan replied. "They don't do that."

The explanation from crew chief Clete Blakeman in the postgame pool report was that Brown "launched into the receiver — who is considered a defenseless player — and there was helmet contact to the chest and neck area."

"[The players] have every right to be frustrated, and they should be. It is what it is," Callahan explained. "I think those guys played hard. They fought the entire game and kept trying to climb back into it and make plays and we made quite a few. It was really a lot of encouraging things about it and we just didn't have enough to overcome it and find a way to get into the end zone another time or two. Disappointed about that part."

What can't be forgotten is that the only reason the Vikings were in a fourth-and-goal situation before the controversial hit by Brown on Addison is because rookie defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat was lined up offsides on a fourth-and-one QB sneak that the Titans stuffed earlier in the drive. Had Sweat been lined up correctly, the Vikings might've turned the ball over on downs and the end zone incident never would've happened.

The other critical call in the second half was an illegal formation penalty that erased a 51-yard touchdown pass from Will Levis to Calvin Ridley. The Titans wound up settling for a field goal, but the touchdown would've had them within 23-17 late in the third quarter.

Right tackle Isaiah Prince was flagged for three illegal formations, including the one that wiped out the long touchdown — and another that happened just three plays earlier. The NFL rulebook demands that an offensive tackle's helmet must be even with the center's waist. Prince was simply lined up too deep.

"Our protocol is to warn initially for the first time and then it's on him," Blakeman said in the pool report.

ESPN reported in early September that the NFL warned teams during the preseason that officials would be making illegal formations a point of emphasis this season, so the Titans knew exactly what could happen if they weren't disciplined with alignment.

"They really want to enforce it," Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell said before Minnesota's season opener against the New York Giants, "which I think is the right thing."

Either way, the Titans were penalized 13 times compared to three on the Vikings. One team was far more disciplined than the other regardless of how controversial the unnecessary roughness call in the end zone was.

"They get in those moments and they just let you yell at them and they don't really say much," Callahan said about his outburst towards the refs on the sideline. "I was just really frustrated in the moment that there just seems to be a lot of big plays and critical plays in games that get taken away from officiating and that's unfortunate. It's frustrating."