Steel Dossier: Titans Head North to Face Old Rivals

One of the great advantages of the Tennessee Titans more or less locking up a playoff spot seven weeks ago is that the team and its fans can focus on loftier goals. With the NFL expanding the playoff field to seven teams, only the conference No. 1 seed gets a bye in the postseason. That's a critical extra week of rest, especially since — if you've somehow not noticed — the Two-Toners have had some injury issues this season. Despite using an NFL-record number of players this year, however, the team is still in the mix for the AFC's best record.

Of course, such calculus presents moral conundrums (conundra?). To wit, the Titans kick off against the 6-6-1 (lol, they tied the Lions) Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at noon. A win means it's possible to lock up the AFC South if the New England Patriots win at Indianapolis in the Sunday night game. Were all that to come to pass, the Titans, Pats and Kansas City Chiefs (who won Thursday night) would all be 10-4 with three games left. The Titans do have the tiebreaker against the Chiefs by virtue of their Week 7 walloping. But similarly, the 36-13 loss to New England puts the good guys on the wrong end of the ledger against the Pats.

Now, the Titans do have a two-game lead on Indianapolis, which is functionally three games because of the head-to-head tiebreaker. It's easy to assume Tennessee is dormie, to borrow an increasingly anachronistic golf term. But anyone who's been a Nashville sports fan for more than four seconds knows it's best not to assume. Of the three teams in the hunt for the top seed, Tennessee has the easiest remaining schedule. Kansas City's three remaining opponents are 20-18-1 (lol, the Steelers tied the Lions; it's never not funny), and they have to hit the road twice. The Pats' four opponents left are 22-30. The Titans? 21-30-1 (hehehe, Pittsburgh tied Detroit). That's the easiest remaining schedule in the league.

This is all by way of saying, despite it being almost always morally reprehensible to cheer for New England, wrapping up the division now and riding the cakier schedule to the top seed is the safer play. 

The game kicks off noon Sunday on CBS with the A-team on the stick: Jim Nantz and Tony Romo.