The Tennessee Titans may not be on the fast track to the Super Bowl, but they?ve shown on a number of occasions that they?re a football club capable of winning games. On Thursday, with the NFL odds against them, they?ll play host to an Indianapolis Colts team desperate to wash the taste of their last performance out of their mouth.
The Colts, of course, were terrorized by the St. Louis Rams their last time out, even without the Rams’ starting quarterback, Sam Bradford. Suddenly, the unexpected blowout has cast a shadow on what was otherwise a promising young franchise for Andrew Luck and the Colts.
While still a significant factor throughout the NFL betting community, with 18-1 odds of winning the Super Bowl, there?s plenty of work to be done in Indianapolis before anybody can take the franchise seriously as a contender capable of taking the next step come the postseason.
It?s one thing to drop the occasional close game to a contender, it?s something entirely different to lose three times — to the Rams, San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins — as the Colts have.
What makes Indy?s case even more mysterious is that they?ve also defeated the San Francisco 49ers and handed the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos their only losses of the season.
Simply put, this is a team legitimately capable of beating any team in any given matchup; it just also happens to be a team that can be caught off guard by a less-than-imposing opponent. Which will show up Thursday night when the Titans open their doors?
While Tennessee has wandered through the season chipping away at opponents here and there, collecting wins when they can get them and weathering the storm of more powerful opponents when they come across them, the result has been a solid, if unspectacular, record that?s left them within arm?s reach of the AFC South.
That means, if the Titans can upset the division-leading Colts in Week 11, they?ll be a single game behind first place.
The Titans have lost to the likes of the Jacksonville Jaguars and wayward Houston Texans, but their only other losses have come at the hands of the 49ers, Seahawks and undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. Maybe there is something to be said of this team as a potential feel-good story.
Tune in this Thursday to see if the Titans, who are +3 dogs, can capitalize on Indianapolis? struggles and climb up the AFC South food chain in the process.
