How did Jeff Fisher end up as Titans coach in Super Bowl 34? It starts with expletive, injury

Yahoo

05-02-2025

Editor's note: This is part of a series looking back at the Tennessee Titans' run to Super Bowl 34 during the 1999 season.
Jeff Fisher had two words for Buddy Ryan on Jan. 22, 1986, in New Orleans.
Two words that launched what turned out to be a 31-year NFL coaching career, 22 of which were spent as a head coach, including 17 with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans.
"(Expletive) you!"
On paper, Fisher was a defensive back for the Chicago Bears in what would have been his fifth NFL season, if not for an ankle injury that prematurely ended his playing career. In reality, he was a 27-year-old de facto coach who shadowed Ryan, then the Bears' defensive coordinator, at every opportunity.
Super Bowl 20 was four days away. The Bears were practicing for what turned out to be a 46-10 victory against the New England Patriots. Ryan, whose feuds with then-Bears head coach Mike Ditka were well documented, was planning to leave, with hopes of becoming head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
He wanted Fisher to go with him. As an assistant coach.
"He goes, 'Hey, Guppy,' " Fisher told The Tennessean. "That was my nickname. We had a big tight end (a couple of years earlier), Bob Fisher, so I was little fish.
"Anyway, he turned to me and he goes, 'Guppy, you and your girlfriend, y'all getting married?' I said, 'Well, we're talking about it.' He said, 'Well, you either need to get married or have her throw a retirement party for you, because you can't (expletive) play anymore.' "
Then Fisher's two words, followed by four more for good measure.
"I said, '(Expletive) you!" Fisher said. "I'm gonna keep trying!' "
"He said, 'I want you to put the defense in for me.' "
Ryan was right. Fisher's playing days were over.
But his coaching days were just about to begin.
Ryan landed the Eagles job and hired Fisher to be his defensive backs coach. By the time he was 30, Fisher was the youngest defensive coordinator in the league.
Fourteen years after those two words, on Jan. 30, 2000, Fisher found himself on the Titans' sideline in the Georgia Dome. He was the head coach in a Super Bowl that produced one of the best finishes in NFL history when Titans receiver Kevin Dyson came up "One Yard Short" as time expired in the 23-16 loss to the St. Louis Rams.
Of the 350 regular-season and postseason games that Fisher spent as a head coach, this one hurts the most.
Fisher said he didn't watch the final series of that game until "a couple of years ago," to prepare for an interview.
"I didn't run from it," Fisher said. "I saw it. I lived it. I was part of it, and I didn't feel like I needed to go and see it again . . . I knew what happened. I was more disappointed for the players, and specifically Steve (McNair), because of what a phenomenal job he did."
The what-ifs from that day have been washed away by the memories that got the Titans there in the first place.
The Titans were on their fourth home stadium and second team name by the time the pyseason rolled around.
In 1996, they were the Houston Oilers playing in the Astrodome in Houston. In 1997, they were the Tennessee Oilers playing in Memphis. In 1998, they were the Tennessee Oilers playing at Vanderbilt. In 1999, they were the Tennessee Titans playing in what is now Nissan Stadium, and.
The Titans went 9-0 there that year en route to a 13-3 record, en route to the franchise's first playoff appearance since 1993 and its first playoff win since 1991.
The respect, not to mention the expectations, was lacking that season.
That never was more evident than during a Super Bowl news conference, when a reporter asked Fisher about all of the moving around — and referred to him as Steve Fisher, a college basketball coach.
"I said, 'My name is Jeff, and it's actually five (stadiums) if you include Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville,' " Fisher said. "That was a shot across the bow that, still to this day, people are (expletive) about."
Jeff Fisher went on to coach the Rams for four seasons after leaving the Titans.
Since leaving the NFL after the 2016 season, he has coached in the USFL, been involved with the Nashville Kats of the Arena Football League, and was named commissioner of Arena Football One.
The grandfather of seven said that 1999 season went way beyond the "Music City Miracle" and "One Yard Short."
"It was the stuff that led up to it," he said. "Everything we had been through as a team, as a franchise, wasn't an easy run.
"(Former general manager) Floyd Reese and I, we felt convicted by the decisions we were making and what kind of team we put on the field. Most people, to start the season, didn't give us any credit at all. We ended up undefeated at home and they're still not paying attention to you."
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [e-mail] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Two words began Jeff Fisher's path to becoming Titans Super Bowl coach