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For the Titans, they need to approach each game as a one-game playoff from here on out. You have to win the game at hand and not worry about what everyone else is doing. You have to control what you do first.
The first two games are winnable football games, playing against teams with losing records, even though the Chiefs are tough at Kansas City. The Jets won't have much to play for the following week and will likely be looking towards the off-season.
You look to the Colts game as being the most challenging one, depending on what is going on with Jacksonville. The Jaguars are keeping pace in the AFC South. You don't want to expect that the Colts will stumble between now and that last game of the season with the Titans, but if they do, that last game becomes important for them, too, in order to get their first round bye. You have to wait and see how it plays out. The only thing that Titans can do is play their three games and try to win all three.
Typically with Coach Dungy, he doesn't play his starters in that last game. He'd rather keep them healthy going into that stretch run, especially with the injuries he has had this year. He wants to go into the playoffs as healthy as he can.
I think Coach Fisher does a good job of keeping guys focused on the game at hand rather than looking ahead to the playoffs, but it's hard not to do that. You want to see what's going on. You want it that badly. You want that ultimate championship, the Super Bowl. You don't have the opportunity to get that unless you're in the playoffs. It's difficult not to look ahead.
I think for the Titans it's a do-or-die situation. I would assume Titans fans would treat it as such. The Chiefs have been eliminated from the playoffs, so it may not be a playoff-like atmosphere in Kansas City. But as far as the Titans are concerned, they have to treat it like it's a playoff game. Win this one game or go home.
