How Titans Can Clinch A Playoff Berth

With a win against the Detroit Lions and a favorable result in at least one other game, Tennessee can lock up its third postseason appearance in four years.

For the Tennessee Titans, this season’s playoff picture has shaped up differently than previous ones.

In each of the Titans’ last two playoff appearances, a Week 17 victory was required to qualify. They were successful in both instances, beating Jacksonville to earn a wild card spot in 2017, and dominating the Houston Texans to do the same last season.

TheTitans also capped the 2018 season with a win-and-in game at Nissan Stadium but lost to the Indianapolis Colts.

“We didn’t win,” coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday. “We played in a play-in game last year that we did win. … So, I think that we are pretty familiar with how these things come down to each and every week and how important every week is.”

Maybe not this time. The Titans (9-4) can eliminate the Week 17 dramatics from the picture and clinch their third postseason berth in four years (their second in three seasons under Vrabel).

However, it’s not as simple as win-and-in yet.

How Tennessee can clinch a playoff spot this week:

• Beat Detroit on Sunday at Nissan Stadium and Baltimore loses to Jacksonville

OR

• Beat Detroit on Sunday and Las Vegas loses to or ties the L.A. Chargers plus Miami loses to New England and Cleveland beats or ties the N.Y. Giants

OR

• Beat Detroit on Sunday and Las Vegas loses to or ties the L.A. Chargers plus Miami loses to New England either the Titans or Browns secure a strength of victory tiebreaker over Miami

Vrabel said he was comfortable with the team’s mindset on Wednesday morning as playoff talk becomes a popular topic among many. The only thing that matters for the Titans right now is what’s ahead of them, and that’s defeating the Lions and staying ahead of the Colts (9-4) in the AFC South.

“You start looking around and worrying about things that are out of your control, or things that don’t even matter to this team, you’re wasting time, you’re wasting energy and you’re not focused on the things that we need to be focused on,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “Our thought process is to stay focused on the task at hand.”

Center Ben Jones shared similar opinions. However, he said it would be nice to clinch a playoff spot before the end of the regular season and start to work toward other aspirations.

“You don’t want to be relying on another team sitting back waiting,” Jones said. “So, all we can do is focus on winning each week and taking care of our part so we don’t have to rely on another team. But it would be nice.”

In addition to the matchup against the Lions (5-8) at Nissan Stadium on Sunday, the Titans travel to Green Bay for a Sunday night showdown with the Packers (10-3) at Lambeau Field on Dec. 27 and finish the season at NRG Stadium against the Houston Texans (4-9) on Jan. 3.