Week 11 concludes this evening as the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to face the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football.
The Steelers are right in the thick of an intradivisional battle in which the Cincinnati Bengals lead the AFC North by dint of a 6-3-1 record being slightly better than the Baltimore Ravens', the Steelers', and the Cleveland Browns'; all three teams currently sit at 6-4.
The Titans, at 2-7 and lying third in the AFC South, have all but given up hope on the season... as well as on 2011 first round (8th overall) draft pick Jake Locker who, along with Charlie Whitehurst, gave way to rookie sixth-rounder Zach Mettenberger. Unhappy though some of us may be with the Bears' quarterbacking situation, if you need a reminder that it could be much, much worse: remember the Titans. Yep, I just set that up to reference a film that I haven't seen.
On paper it looks like a complete mismatch - Ben Roethlisberger did, after all, throw six touchdowns in each of consecutive wins over the Indianapolis Colts and the Ravens - but then again the Steelers managed to go on to lose to a New York Jets team that was 1-8 going into last week's game. According to STATS the Steelers under Mike Tomlin have played nine road games in the second half of the season against teams with a sub-.300 win percentage, and have lost six of those contests. Could the unfancied Titans take advantage of whatever ails the Steelers under these circumstances?
This is your Monday Night Football open thread; keep calm and Schweickert style.