Did Jeff Fisher Go Too Far?

While speaking at a recent fundraiser in Nashville, Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher decided to don an Indianapolis Colts jersey while introducing former Colts head coach Tony Dungy.

This decision has created a firestorm in Nashville with Titans fans that are up in arms because of an 0-6 start to a season that held Super Bowl aspirations. On his weekly radio show, Fisher apologized to fans for the incident.

My question, however is: Why apologize?

Fisher was at a fundraising event for Michael W. Smith's Rocketown in downtown Nashville. His job as a speaker was to put people in a mood to open their wallets and provide funding for the organization.

As a part of this, he felt some humor was in store. He could have gone into the engagement and just read a prepared speech about how it's a great organization and that people should give money even though we're all experiencing difficult economic times.

This approach would have done nothing, however, to address the 300-pound gorilla in the room: the Titans' horrible start to the season. By using humor to address the situation, he put everyone at ease and was able to put the attention where it really needed to be: Rocketown.

The use of Peyton Manning's jersey was not a shot taken at his own players. He was introducing the former Colts head coach. He was also speaking in an area with a lot of Manning fans who still remember his exploits on the field for the Tennessee Volunteers.

Fisher knew who his crowd was and how to reach that crowd to get them to open their minds and wallets, which is what his goal was by speaking in the first place.

If it's the quote, "I just wanted to feel like a winner," that bothers fans, then they need to get past that as well. Jeff Fisher is a winner. He had the Titans in a position last year that no one expected. Don't believe for a second that every snap of this season doesn't haunt him as he tries to sleep at night.

He will correct the ship, whatever needs to be done. Then no one in Nashville will have trouble "feeling like a winner."