When Will Levis threw a pick-six in the Titans’ Week 3 loss to the Green Bay Packers, continuing his early-season propensity for turnovers, Brian Callahan wasn’t mad. Not like we saw in his tantrum on the sideline after Levis’ incredible fumble in scoring position against the New York Jets, when cameras caught the rookie head coach screaming, “What the fuck are you doing?” you there?” Or after Levis’ reckless, decisive pick-six in the season opener against the Chicago Bears.

In Week 3, Callahan considered Jaire Alexander’s 35-yard interception return a nice play from an All-Pro cornerback. Alexander jumped the route perfectly after sitting on it, Callahan explained. He didn’t see anything wrong timing-wise between Levis and intended receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

“It wasn’t a stupid mistake at all,” Callahan said after the game.

“Will did some really good things in that game, I thought.”

Callahan’s perspective from Week 3 should serve as a reminder of what the Titans’ overarching goal should be for this season: finding out if Levis is the guy or not. That means he’ll ride it all season, bumps and all, and continue on Monday night against the Miami Dolphins.

Of course, the giveaways cannot be overlooked. The catastrophic consequences are burned into the minds of Titans fans. Levis leads the NFL with eight turnovers, including five interceptions (tied for second) and three lost fumbles (tied for the NFL high). He’s had multiple giveaways in each of Tennessee’s games so far, including three each in Weeks 1 and 3.

That’s why just three games into Levis’ second season, some league observers are questioning his suitability as the Titans’ long-term quarterback.

“We need to get it fixed,” Callahan said of the turnovers. “Whatever that looks like. Whatever that looks like, it doesn’t matter. We can’t lead the league in turnovers at the quarterback position and expect to win a lot of games, so that part has to get better.”

But you can’t look at the negative without also considering the positive.

Levis has shown promising results amid sales difficulties. Entering Week 4, he ranked 14th in completion rate (68.1%), ninth in touchdown passes (4), and 11th in touchdown rate among the 31 qualifying quarterbacks according to Pro Football Reference (4.3%).

This was achieved despite poor pass protection. The right tackle job has become an open competition after just three games. Levis has been sacked 15 times, trailing only the Cleveland Browns’ Deshaun Watson before Sunday’s games, and had given up more yards on sacks than any other quarterback in the league (101) entering Week 4. Sack rate, according to Pro Football Reference.

Consider that Levis started just 12 NFL games. His completion percentage, touchdown rate and pass success rate are all better than when he was a rookie.

Hopkins, his favorite target last season, had a delay in the start of the season due to a knee injury suffered in training camp. After having just two catches on three targets for 17 yards and no scores in the first two games combined, Hopkins had six catches on seven targets for 73 yards and a touchdown in Week 3. That should be a connection that Levis can lean on in the future as he continues to learn what it takes to be an NFL starting quarterback.

Despite showing frustration with the second-year quarterback in the first few games, Callahan remains confident that Levis will be used as QB1.

“We have to play better around him,” Callahan said.

The Titans would have nothing to gain from benching Levis. If the goal is to see if he can be your franchise quarterback, give him the entire year as a showcase. If the turnover issue persists, he can give you a top draft pick that can potentially be used to sign a quarterback in 2025. As one of two teams without a win, the Titans find themselves in a very early race for the No. 1 overall pick.

But that’s not where Tennessee is right now. It’s still early in the season, October is just around the corner. With a first-year head coach and new coordinators implementing a new scheme on a roster that has seen so much turnover, the Titans are still learning about themselves.

This process of identity formation takes precedence over any final judgment of Levis at this point.

“I would say there is urgency,” Callahan said. “There is an urgency to get the things that need fixing done and make improvements quickly. And I think what makes teams so good in this league is how quickly you can fix a problem and how urgent it is to get it done. You.” I only had 17 weeks to get everything done.

Levis’ teammates continue to trust him.

“He’s under a lot of stress and things like that,” wide receiver Tyler Boyd said last week. “We know he’s been through a lot with social media and … he’s trying to block that out and play well at the same time. But at the end of the day we just have to have his back. Just like he has ours.” back.”

And Levis remains confident.

“I think it’s easy to be in the ‘Woe is me. What am I doing wrong? Am I not good enough?’ to be,” said Levis. “You should never let that sink into your head. You have to come back and just remember what kind of player you are and what got you to this point.”

Only time will tell if this is good enough to become the Titans’ franchise quarterback.

Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked at The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he served as executive director Titans Beat writer for a year and a half. He covered that Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) before transferring to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.

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