Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans (+7)*
For sixteen weeks and fifteen games, nearly the same sentence has been written about the Indianapolis Colts — they destroy bad teams and struggle against good ones. They will obviously get the chance to rectify this stigma when the playoffs roll around, but they have yet to prove anything more than the simple fact that they can outlast the AFC South — a division that contains the Jaguars and Titans, along with their combined 4-26 record.
Indianapolis has made a habit of feasting on bad teams, and the Titans — as poor a team as it gets — have the unfortunate draw of facing an offensive powerhouse coming off an embarrassing loss. Under the right circumstances, should the Colts blow the doors of the Titans? Of course.
Too bad the game means nothing to Indianapolis. The same cannot be said about the laughing stock from Tennessee.
While Tennessee looks like it has already rolled over and died to the tune of back-to-back losses to the Jets and Jaguars, there will likely be a final push to put up a fight in the season’s final game. This is especially true if the Buccaneers lose to the Saints, guaranteeing the number one overall pick in next year’s draft will go to Tampa Bay, and not Tennessee. At that point, even the incentive to lose will be removed.
No matter how bad a team has played all season, they usually break through for one or two weeks – think Jaguars over the Giants, Raiders over the Chiefs, Jets over the Steelers – but we haven’t seen that from Tennessee, outside of it’s Opening Day stunner in Kansas City.
The Titans play arguably their best game all season, but lose by four as they run out of gas in the end, beating the spread.
