The Las Vegas Raiders are taking on the Tennessee Titans in Week 6 of the 2025 NFL season. This already feels like a must-win game for both of these 1-4 squads, but the matchup is also filled with endless connections between the two franchises.
Most notably, Titans offensive line coach Bill Callahan was the offensive coordinator under Jon Gruden for several years in Oakland before succeeding him as the Raiders' head coach in 2002. He led the team to the Super Bowl in his first season, but was fired after clashing with Al Davis in a 4-12 follow-up campaign in 2003.
Callahan also infamously faced allegations of throwing the aforementioned Super Bowl, which was played under bizarre circumstances against Gruden's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He denied these allegiations, and Rich Gannon took his side, but neither Tim Brown nor Jerry Rice are convinced.
Titans' Brian Callahan shares fond memories of Raiders ahead of Week 6
Brian Callahan, Bill's son, grew up watching his father's Raiders, and eventually became the team's quarterback coach in 2018 before striking an offensive coordinator gig with the Cincinnati Bengals. Now, he's in his second year as the head coach in Tennessee, where he has employed his father.
On Wednesday, leading up to this clash between these two teams, and with nearly two decades passed now since the drama surrounding his father's tenure in Oakland, Brian Callahan spoke to the media about what the Raiders mean to him.
"When my dad was there, they had a lot of success over those years. ... I was a fan of the team, I was always excited to go. It was great environments to go play in when they were at the Coliseum in Oakland," Callahan said. "Then I got a chance to go coach there for a year. I have fond memories in that Silver and Black, and those gamedays, and some of the wins over the years when I was following along as a high school kid and spending time there. Great place, great memories for me."
This will tug at the heartstrings of Raider Nation a bit. Even though the fan base is split on Bill Callahan's stint in Oakland, they can't help but reminisce on the last coach to have any real success with the Silver and Black.
Tennessee's head coach also noted how many staff members they have who spent significant portions of their career with the Raiders. Outside of him and his father, coaches like Nick Holz, Travis Smith, Tom Jones and Bo Hardagree all stand as familiar names to the fan base.
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Holz spent 10 years with the franchise in various offensive capacities, and Smith spent a decade with the team in Oakland and Las Vegas, working closely with defensive stars like Maxx Crosby and Khalil Mack.
Jones spent several decades with the team in capacities ranging from a coaches assistant to the head of football operations, and Hardagree was the Raiders' interim offensive coordinator in 2023 after the franchise cleaned house and fired Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler.
Speaking of Ziegler, he is now an assistant general manager in Tennessee. Another former Raiders general manager, Reggie McKenzie, is also the Vice President of Player Personnel and a Football Advisor for the Titans.
In conjunction with that, there are several former Raiders on the roster in Tennessee. Edge rushers Arden Key and Jihad Ward, both drafted under McKenzie, are currently on the Titans, and Sam Webb, an undrafted free agent first signed by Ziegler, is on the Tennessee practice squad.
As badly as Raider Nation wants the team to defend its home turf on Sunday and take down a very beatable Titans team, this matchup is also an opportunity for the fan base to wander down memory lane and take stock of the last two decades or so.