Rapid Reaction: Titans 31, Steelers 14

<p><em>Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky</em></p> <p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The AFC road to Super Bowl XLIII officially comes through Music City.</p> <img align="right" alt="" height="80" src="http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogos/nfl/med/trans/ten.gif" width="80" /><img align="right" alt="" height="80" src="http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogos/nfl/med/trans/pit.gif" width="80" /> <p>At least for a while, the Titans have quieted those who've been critical of their schedule and insistent that they peaked too early. They are the conference's No. 1 seed.</p> <p>They played a <a href="http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=281221010" shape="rect" target="_blank">fantastic and complete game today</a>, pushing around a team regarded as the league's most physical and moved the ball against a defense that's been talked about as an all-time great unit. Steelers fans who infiltrated Nashville were sitting on their Terrible Towels in the fourth quarter as the Titans delivered the knockout punches.</p> <p>Tennessee forced four turnovers and was uncharacteristically aggressive on offense, going for it twice on fourth down and converting both times. Without star defensive linemen <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=3543" shape="rect" target="_new">Albert Haynesworth</a> and <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=2582" shape="rect" target="_new">Kyle Vanden Bosch</a>, the Titans still harassed <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=5536" shape="rect" target="_new">Ben Roethlisberger</a> enough to have a big influence on the outcome of the game.</p> <p>Rookie <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=11288" shape="rect" target="_new">Jason Jones</a>, who stepped into Haynesworth's starting spot, had a monster showing with 3.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.</p> <p>The Titans topped 300 yards of offense, halting Pittsburgh's streak of 14 consecutive games holding opponents under that mark. The Steelers have to settle for a tie with the 1973 Rams in that department.</p> <p>The last three Super Bowl champions didn't have a bye and started out on the road. That's fine for other coaches to tell their teams for inspiration, but Fisher can tell his team this: We have given ourselves the easier possible route to Tampa Bay. With a win Jan. 10 or 11 in a divisional round game, Tennessee will host the AFC Championship Game for the first time.<br clear="none" /> With an irrelevant finale at Indianapolis next week, the Titans have wins over second-seed Pittsburgh and the fifth-seeded Colts.</p> <p>Don't expect Jeff Fisher to kill momentum by resting many people next week, when Tony Dungy will definitely hold out a bunch of key people and pull others very early.</p>

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