You could see Marcus Mariota’s sophomore slump coming back in February, when the Titans made the uninspired choice to give Mike Mularkey the head coaching job after he had replaced Ken Whisenhunt for the final two months of the 2015 season and led Tennessee to a 2-7 finish.

A month into his first full season on the job, Mularkey has forced Mariota, one of the league’s most promising young quarterbacks, into a secondary role in an unfamiliar offense that passed its expiration date back when Mariota was a freshman in high school.

Mularkey raised a huge red flag when he first laid out his offensive philosophy during his introductory press conference.

Mularkey: Says his old offensive system in Pitt, which he hopes to replicate, was known as "exotic smashmouth." — John Glennon (@glennonsports) February 18, 2016

Mularkey planned on installing an offense similar to what he had run as the Steelers offensive coordinator — a position he last held in 2003, back when Rick Mirer, Vinny Testaverde and Chris Chandler were still starting NFL quarterbacks.

NFL offenses have undergone a dramatic makeover in the last 13 years. Teams are throwing more than ever, there are more receivers on the field and short, perimeter throws have replaced a large chunk of the running game.

Not in Tennessee, though. These Titans were going to kick it old school with fullbacks, blocking tight ends and a run-first approach. Mularkey wanted a full-on pro-style offense straight out of the late ’90s, and the front office set out to build him a roster in order to run such a scheme.

The team used a first-round pick on Jack Conklin, a nasty run-blocker who some scouts saw as more of a guard than a pass-blocking tackle, and then a second-rounder on bruising back Derrick Henry, who hadn’t really shown much ability as a pass catcher.

The run game was bound to improve, but the passing game and Mariota’s receiving corps were largely ignored. The team gave middling receiver Rishard Matthews a $5 million-per-year contract, it signed a washed up Andre Johnson and then waited until the fifth round before drafting a wideout. Then in August, the front office got rid of the most promising receiver on the roster when it traded Dorial Green-Beckham to Philly for a reserve offensive lineman.

From the coaching hire, to the offensive scheme, to the offseason roster moves, the Titans did very little to build around Mariota, the centerpiece of the franchise. Instead, the front office chose to build around a mediocre coach and his antiquated offense.

Mariota should be better but Mularkey said his model for coaching Mariota was Kordell Stewart, which is just unreal — Chris B. Brown (@smartfootball) October 2, 2016

Give credit to Mularkey for one thing: He’s backed up his talk. The Titans are indeed running “exotic smashmouth.” It’s been painfully ineffective (the team is averaging 15.5 points a game) but they are running it. In a league where teams are spreading things out with three and sometimes four receivers, Tennessee is packing it in with tight formations and multiple tight ends and backs.

Unsurprisingly, Mariota, who dominated college football in a no-huddle spread offense that operated exclusively out of the gun, has struggled mightily. He’s thrown more interceptions than touchdowns and ranks dead last in ESPN’s QBR. He’s clearly uncomfortable in the offense, which had put him under center more often than not coming into the team’s Week 4 loss in Houston.

His statistical splits tell the story:

(Note: Splits updated from earlier version of the story after changes were made to play-by-play data from Sunday’s game)

Mariota in shotgun: 63.3% completions, 3 TDs, 2 INT, 83.9 rating

Mariota under center: 53.6% completions, 1 TD, 3 INT, 58.1 rating

Mariota w/ 3+ receivers: 63.9% completions, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 84.6 rating

Mariota w/ <3 receivers: 56.8% completions, 2 TDs, 4 INT, 61.4 rating

When Tennessee spreads things out, Mariota has been solid. When they go to those old school formations, he’s been the worst quarterback in the league.

To Mularkey’s credit, the Titans did put Mariota in the gun more often on Sunday against the Texans, but they were still operating out of the same two-receiver sets that we saw throughout the first three weeks.

The motivation for that is to better protect Mariota, who took far too many hits during his rookie season. The Titans are using those extra tight ends and backs to help out in pass protection, and it appears to be working — at least on the surface. Mariota is being pressured far less than he was a season ago thanks to those extra blockers — but that protection is coming at a cost. Keeping those guys in has limited his options downfield.

With fewer receivers in the pattern, it’s harder for the Titans to include multiple route combinations in one play design, a standard practice in today’s offenses. So if the defense is able to take away one concept (as the Vikings were able to do in the example above) there’s not much else Mariota can do. That’s why his passing numbers are down despite facing less pressure than he did in 2015.

There are far more effective ways of mitigating a weak offensive line. Just look at the Seahawks, who transformed their passing game on the fly last year after Russell Wilson got off to an uneven start behind the league’s worst o-line. What did Seattle do? It spread things out, going to more empty formations that gave Wilson more options before the snap and allowed him to get rid of the ball quickly. The sack numbers went down and Wilson went on a tear.

The Seahawks found a way to build the offense around their quarterback. That’s what competent teams do instead of forcing the team’s most important player to adapt to a coach’s scheme.

Scrapping the “exotic smashmouth” in favor of a more modern approach may not solve all of the Titans’ offensive problems, but it would put Mariota in a better position to succeed. It would also be the first time this year the organization made a move that benefited its franchise quarterback.