Link Now that the Titans have beaten all three of their divisional opponents at home, opening a commanding four-game lead in the AFC South, it's only natural to start wondering how far 7-0 Tennessee can extend its undefeated season.
A check of the schedule shows Tennessee has just four of its remaining nine games against winning teams, but one of its toughest challenges will come this week, when Green Bay (4-3) visits LP Field in Nashville. In a quirk of scheduling, both the Packers and the Titans are coming off impressive home wins over the Colts: Green Bay beat Indy 34-14 in Week 7, then enjoyed a bye last weekend. The Titans beat the Colts 31-21 Monday night, pushing their league-best regular-season winning streak to 10 games -- tying the second-best streak in franchise history.
The Packers are 2-1 on the road this season and they might be catching the Titans coming off the emotional high of having beaten their top divisional rival at home. Tennessee has been a model of consistency this season, but the Packers pose a threat for a number of reasons:
1) Aaron Rodgers gives Green Bay a clear edge in the quarterback matchup against Tennessee's Kerry Collins. The Packers' first-year starter is playing at an extremely high level, completing 65.6 percent of his passes for 1,668 yards, with 12 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 98.8 passer rating that ranks seventh in the NFL. That's better than both Eli and Peyton Manning, Jay Cutler, Donovan McNabb, Ben Roethlisberger, Jake Delhomme and some guy named Favre in New York.
And coming off the bye, Rodgers is approaching healthy once again after suffering a dislocated throwing shoulder in a Week 4 loss at Tampa Bay. He had his best day of practice since the injury on Thursday, and his dissection of the Colts two weeks ago (21 completions to eight receivers) increased the growing feeling around the league that he brings a steady, surprisingly veteran element to the Packers passing game. Rodgers leads the NFL in third-down passing with a 120.3 rating, and nine of his 12 scoring throws have come on third down.
"I'm impressed with Rodgers, I really am,'' said ex-Baltimore head coach Brian Billick, now a FOX game analyst. "I think he has a complete game. He's very poised, and as Bill Walsh liked to say, he has all the throws. He's shown a command of that offense, and he's doing it without much of a running game to work with. I'm impressed with what I've seen so far.''
2) The Packers secondary should be back to full strength this week with the return of both cornerback Al Harris and strong safety Atari Bigby. Harris is returning from the torn spleen he suffered against Dallas in Week 3, and Bigby missed the past four games with a hamstring injury. In Harris and Bigby's absence, Green Bay developed nice young backup options in cornerback Tramon Williams and safety Aaron Rouse, but the return of the veterans only adds to a unit that has already returned five interceptions for touchdowns this season, one shy of Green Bay's franchise record.
As well as the Titans run the ball, you have to think that sooner or later their lack of a true No. 1 receiving option will cost them in a game. They likely won't have a wide receiver with more than 60 receptions for the fourth year in a row. Starters Justin Gage and Justin McCareins have a combined 23 catches, and all Titans receivers total just 43 receptions -- only slightly more than Titans tight ends (41 catches). In fact, the Titans are the first team since the 1985 Deiter Brock-quarterbacked Los Angeles Rams to start 7-0 despite not topping 200 yards passing in any game.
3) While I expect the Titans' two-headed and fourth-ranked running game (145.0 yards per game) to pound away at a Packers defensive front that has been susceptible to the run (141.9 yards per game, 25th in the league), Green Bay's run defense has shown improvement of late. After allowing an average of 161.4 yards rushing per game in their first five games, the Packers held Seattle and Indianapolis (admittedly a pair of run-challenged teams) to just 113 and 73 yards, respectively, for a 93.0 yard average.
Chris Johnson and LenDale White have combined for an NFL-best 14 rushing touchdowns this season, and Johnson, a rookie, leads the AFC in rushing with 626 yards. The Packers might employ a four-linebacker package in an effort to limit Tennessee's running success, much like the Colts tried Monday night with decent results. The Titans gained just 88 yards rushing on 31 attempts, a 2.8-yard average, but they did punch in three touchdowns on the ground.
Having nearly ended their division race after just eight weeks, the Titans face a new challenge: Playing the role of the hunted rather than the hunter. How will they cope with the second-half spotlight that inevitable falls on the NFL's last remaining undefeated team, with exponentially more attention and expectation coming their way with every victory? We're about to find out, because dead ahead is their toughest three-game stretch of the season: Green Bay, at Chicago, and at Jacksonville.
"The Colts are not the team to beat any more,'' Titans veteran linebacker Keith Bulluck said this week. "I think we made a statement within the division, and I think we have made a statement all year with our play. The Colts were the team to beat, and I think now the Titans are the team to beat.''
Bulluck is right about that. It's the unblemished Titans who now wear the bull's-eye. And starting with Green Bay this week, the rest of the NFL will begin taking aim.