Tennessee makes their bid for home field in the playoffs beating the Steelers 31 to 14.

And that's the way the cookie crumbles. On a day I expected very little offense, both teams had their moments moving the ball. Overall however the Steelers out played the Titans and had this game on their line a few times but could not reel it in. 4 turnovers made sure of that.

Give credit to the Titans for being the first offense to gain over 300 yards of offense against Pittsburgh. They also put up 117 yards of rushing. Which is starting to concern me a tiny bit now. The Steelers have been loosening up somewhat against the rush. To balance that thought out however I need to consider also that Tennessee has probably the best offensive line in the NFL. 

The Steelers #1 "D" did not play bad but this was not one of their best games either. In addition to giving up 100+ rushing yards they could not get to Kerry Collins. The one time they sacked him was only the 9th time all year he has been sacked. Of course we should mention that sack was courtesy of All-Pro James Harrison who now is the NEW regular season sack record holder in Pittsburgh with his 16th sack. Kudos to you James "the attacker"!

In many ways this game reminded me of the Indianapolis game. The Titans kept plugging away and the Steelers gift wrapped a few opportunities for them. Which leads us to the Steelers offense.

Running the ball like this is not going to get it done in the playoffs. And that includes the knowledge of Ben compiling a nice 26 for 40 and 331 passing yards. That is a nice box score in many ways except that 300 yard passing days and sub 100 yard running games usually lead to a loss. Especially against a good team. The 4 turnovers made it that much easier for Tennessee.

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The Roethlisberger fumble at the goal line was crucial because it took points off the board. Ben coughed up another freebie upon being sacked which led to a Titans TD. The there was Ben's favorite receiver of the afternoon, Titans Michael Griffin. Who had 2 INT for 115 yards and 1 TD. OUCH!

The O-line did not have a good day either. Against a depleted Tennessee defensive front, they yielded 5 sacks. The sad part about that is the Titans were not blitzing much. In fact more and more teams are goading Ben into being greedy.

Not all was bad on the day however. They did move the ball against an elite defense. The TD from Ben to Santonio Holmes was perfection on both ends. And despite the days struggles the Steelers had ample opportunity to win the game.

Moving ahead they need to chalk this one up as a bad day of execution. Which is acceptable if it remains at this game. Those kinds of mistakes will get you out of the playoffs in a hurry.

Thankfully we have the Browns to finish the season. We should be able to regain our composure against a team that has basically shut it down 3 weeks ago. We can preview that game later.

By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Pittsburgh Steelers Correspondent