The Titans beat the New York Giants 17-0 for their first shutout in 18 years last week in what was a must-win game. The Titans virtually hit playoff mode after losing in Houston and falling to 5-6. Since then they have responded with wins against the Jets, Jaguars, and Giants.
Up next are the 7-7 Washington Redskins who are now playing with their 4th quarterback of the season after watching Alex Smith and Colt McCoy go down with broken legs and Marc Sanchez fail miserably.
The Titans are already favored by as many as 10.5 points to beat new QB Josh Johnson and the Redskins in the first of two straight at home to finish out the season.
The race is on to grab the last spot in the AFC with the Chiefs or Chargers a lock to be the 1st Wild Card.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5-1)
6. Baltimore Ravens (8-6)
7. Indianapolis Colts (8-6)
8. Tennessee Titans (8-6)
The Titans passed the Broncos and Dolphins the last two weeks as both of those teams lost critical games. That leaves the Ravens and Colts ahead of them because of better conference records. The Titans can still take care of the Colts themselves in Week 17 though when they host Andrew Luck and company at Nissan Stadium.
The Titans need help from either the Steelers or Ravens, but they do not need a lot. They only need one of those two teams to drop 1 of their last 2 games and it very well could happen this weekend.
This Saturday the Titans host the Redskins at 3:30 CT and after that, the Ravens visit the red-hot Los Angeles Chargers who just won in Kansas City and have had 11 days to rest.
On Sunday the Steelers visit the Saints and New Orleans is still trying to lock up home-field advantage in the NFC, so both teams have plenty to play for.
The New York Times playoff calculator gives the Titans a 39% of making the playoffs, 50% if they beat Washington and 94% if they beat Washington and Indy.
