It's been eight long years since the Titans last made the playoffs. They weren't even in the hunt in many of those seasons.
Tennessee has become an afterthought on the weekly NFL landscape, playing in front of sparse crowds and on TV network's least attractive matchups.
But after Sunday's win in Miami, the Titans actually have a shot over the next three weeks to become relevant again.
The next three games on the schedule are all at home, against the Browns (Sunday), the Colts (Oct. 23rd) and the Jaguars (Oct. 27th).
The Browns will come to Nashville winless and with a beat up quarterback. The Colts are just 2-3 after narrowly escaping the hapless Bears Sunday and the Jaguars have been a huge disappointment with just one win so far.
That's three winnable games in the next 16 days. Win two of three and the Titans would get back to .500 and surpass their final win totals of the past two seasons at just the midway point of the year. Win all three and the Titans will be right back in the AFC South race against a plenty vulnerable Texans team.
For that to happen, the Titans are going to have to do two things that haven't happened in a long time: win at home and win consecutive games.
You have to go back to Dec. 6th of last season to find the team's last win at Nissan Stadium, which came against Jacksonville. In fact, you have to go all the way back to the final game of the 2013 season to find the last time the Titans won a home game against a team named something other than the Jaguars.
That season-ending win over the Texans was also the last time Tennessee won back to back games. Mike Munchak was the head coach in 2013. The Titans never won consecutive games under Ken Whisenhunt and haven't done it yet under Mike Mularkey.
The 30-17 win over the Dolphins Sunday was a good start, but now the challenge is for the Titans to stack wins together, and they better start at home.
Nissan Stadium has become entirely too friendly for visiting teams' and their fans. It hasn't been uncommon to see as many jerseys of the opposing team as Titans' jerseys in the stands, or to hear opposing fans' chants ringing through the stadium during the 2-16 home slump.
The only way that's going to change is for the Titans to start winning. They might as well start now.
Coaches and players keep saying they're making progress, and they appear to be much improved. Now the path to relevance is in front of them.
We'll see just how far along that path the Titans are the next three weeks.
