Titans vs. Colts 2013: Unimpressive win for Indianapolis leaves doubt

The Colts won a game that was “boring” and “uninspiring,” but essentially clinched the AFC South.

Dec 2, 2013, 6:19 PM UTC

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The Indianapolis Colts didn't find the end zone until less than two minutes remained in their Week 13 matchup against the Tennessee Titans, but the slow, grinding effort resulted in a much-needed win that ended any remaining doubt that the Colts would end the year as AFC South champions.

Still, the win wasn’t a tremendous showing for a Colts team that has struggled as of late. On Monday, Brad Wells of SB Nation’s Colts blog, Stampede Blue, described the win as “boring” and “uninspired.”

Yes, a win is a win and Indy has pretty much clinched the AFC South, but their performance overall on Sunday was hardly inspiring. Once again, their offense started slow, with Andrew Luck getting intercepted on the team's opening series of the game. Once again, it's not until the fourth quarter when the offensive line finally decides to block. Once again, another team ran all over the tens of million of dollars worth of veteran free agents that Ryan Grigson signed to help improve Pagano's defense.

For the Titans, it was a third loss in the last four weeks and one that has knocked the Titans from in control of the AFC Wild Card to the outside looking in. It was also enough to launch a series at SB Nation’s Titans blog, Music City Miracles, “Mike Munchak should be fired.”

The Titans are still committing dumb penalties game in and game out. The latest came yesterday when Moises Fokou blasted Donald Brown late and away from the play yesterday when the Titans were about to get off the field on third down.
That is in direct contradiction to Munchak’s rallying cry. It would be one thing if that was an isolated incident, but it isn’t. The Titans are in the top half of the league in penalties committed per game. We see the same level of undisciplined play now that we saw under Jeff Fisher.

The Titans will need to piece together some wins late in the year to climb back into the Wild Card race, but that'll be easier said than done in a road game against the Denver Broncos in Week 14. The Colts can clinch the AFC South title in Week 14 with a road victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.