Titans seek to clinch against aching Browns

With help, Tennessee also can earn a first-round playoff bye.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Linebacker Keith Bulluck has been waiting a long time for the Tennessee Titans to have another chance at the AFC South title.

Actually, a few years and counting.

Now the Titans can clinch their first title since 2002 in a division dominated by Indianapolis the past five seasons with a win today over the Cleveland Browns (4-8), and Bulluck is ready to pounce.

“That’s what we’re aiming for. This opportunity hasn’t come by this organization for some years. We need to go ahead and make the most of it,” Bulluck said.

The Titans (11-1) also could clinch a first-round bye in the playoffs by beating Cleveland combined with a New York Jets loss as part of their chase for home-field advantage throughout the postseason. It’s something Tennessee hasn’t done since 2000, when the Titans had the NFL’s best record. Bulluck sees no margin for error.

“It’s still a tight race. We’re sitting atop. The way we look at it, as long as we win, everything should take care of itself,” the linebacker said.

For Cleveland, this matchup would have been better at the end of the 2007 season. Browns fans were furious that Tennessee grabbed the AFC’s final playoff spot away from Cleveland by beating Indianapolis with Peyton Manning resting most of the game.

Since then, the teams have gone in different directions. The Titans are looking for their 15th win in 16 regular season games after surviving a season-opening injury to Vince Young by calmly switching to veteran Kerry Collins.

The injury-plagued Browns have lost four games by four or fewer points, including last week’s 10-6 loss to Indianapolis, and come in on a two-game skid and with losses in four of the last five. Browns coach Romeo Crennel joked he could ask the Titans for a couple of spare players, but playoff expectations are gone.

“It hasn’t developed the way we wanted it to develop, so everybody’s a little disappointed,” Crennel said. “It gets kind of blown out of proportion a little bit more than say if we hadn’t won those games last year and the people that thought we weren’t any good, then they’d say, ‘OK, those guys are not any good but they played hard.’ ”

Crennel has spent the past few days prepping Ken Dorsey for his first start since Nov. 27, 2005. Dorsey is Cleveland’s third starting quarterback in as many weeks after season-ending injuries to Brady Quinn and then Derek Anderson.