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Another NFL head coach has gotten the axe.

Mike Vrabel was fired on Tuesday by the Tennessee Titans after six seasons, throwing a curveball into the offseason coaching carousel.

The Titans missed the playoffs for the second straight season, with their 6-11 finish their worst record in Vrabel’s six years.

There has been speculation that Vrabel could be a candidate for the Patriots job if New England parts ways with Bill Belichick.

“Earlier today, I spoke with Mike Vrabel and told him about my decision to make a change at head coach,” Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement. “As I told Coach Vrabel, this decision was as difficult as any I’ve made as Controlling Owner. I appreciate Mike’s contributions to the Tennessee Titans both on and off the field. Anyone who has ever met him knows how passionate and genuine he is, and he’s been a strong supporter of the Nashville community. We wish Mike, Jen, and the Vrabel family nothing but the best in the future.”

The 48-year-old, who won three Super Bowls as a Patriots linebacker under Belichick, became a first-time head coach with the Titans in 2018 after spending four years with the Texans, the last of which he was defensive coordinator.

The Titans missed the playoffs at 9-7 in Vrabel’s first year, but they began a run of three straight playoff appearances during the 2019-20 season, when they reached the AFC Championship game.

Vrabel was named the NFL’s Coach of the Year in 2021, when the Titans went 12-5 before being one-and-done in the divisional round.

Strunk added that trading Vrabel became a complicated endeavor.

“Yes there was, but there’s a bit of misconception about a coach’s contract say versus a player’s contract,” Strunk said in a sit down with the team’s in-house media. “A coach’s contract, you can’t trade them unless they’re a willing partner to that trade. So yes we thought about it, but at the end of the day, with league rules the way they are, it would have maybe put us back three weeks.

“And honestly, to get the right head coach, I was just not willing to go to the back of the line and take a chance of missing out on someone we really wanted.”

The Titans join the Chargers, Commanders, Falcons, Raiders and Panthers as teams searching for a new head coach.

This NFL hiring cycle was already swirling with intrigue as Belichick’s future is up in the air and Jim Harbaugh may consider an NFL return after winning the national title with Michigan.

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