NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Vince Young set his NFL goals almost immediately upon receiving the call from the Tennessee Titans alerting him they were drafting him. At the top? Take the Titans back to the playoffs.
That is the standard set by Steve McNair, Young's mentor and the last quarterback to take Tennessee to the playoffs.
"I'm just trying to fill in Pop's shoes right now," Young said.
He did it in his second NFL season, even if the Titans (10-6) had to squeak into the AFC's final wild-card slot over Cleveland by virtue of the third tiebreaker with a better record against common opponents.
Young beat McNair to the playoffs by three years, and now the still rebuilding Titans are preparing to visit San Diego (11-5) on Sunday in their first playoff game since a 17-14 divisional loss in New England on Jan. 10, 2004.
Only seven Titans still remain on the roster from that game for a franchise that wound up in a salary cap crunch that forced McNair's trade to Baltimore in June 2006, keeping him from ever sharing the same sideline with Young.
They also still have coach Jeff Fisher in his fifth playoff berth in nine seasons. He said the key was rebounding from three straight losses to finish with four victories in the final five games -- the lone loss in that stretch to San Diego, 23-17 in overtime on Dec. 9.
"That's something that we can build on," Fisher said Monday. "The key here is not to all of a sudden take a deep breath, throw your arms up in the air and say we made it. You expect to make it every year. We made it. Now we expect to do something about it."
The Titans reached the 2000 Super Bowl as a wild card in their first playoff appearance with McNair. Only right guard Benji Olson and punter Craig Hentrich are left from that team.
Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said the rebuilding isn't done yet.
"We're still not there," he said.
But beating Indianapolis, well mostly the Colts backups, 16-10 on Sunday night capped their first winning record since 2003. They won with Young on the bench at the end, symbolic of how the 2006 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year hasn't had to carry the Titans this season.
The Titans are in the postseason thanks to a physical running game, a dependable kicker and an aggressive defense that jumped from last in the NFL in yards allowed in 2006 to fifth in 2007.
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