Three things come to my mind when thinking about the importance of the Titans' win over the Texans yesterday. Two of them have to do with next year, so I'll list the three in chronological order.
 
Item One: The win keeps Tennessee alive, barely, in the hunt for a playoff berth, trailing the 8-6 Colts and 8-6 Jaguars. The Titans would have to win out while the Colts and Jags lose out. Here's the breakdown for the division from Paul Kuharsky, which also gives the scenarios for the Colts and Jags to win the title.

Finally, after suffering losses in each of their last six games, the Tennessee Titans experienced what a victory feels like again.

Led by a solid effort from veteran QB Kerry Collins, a beyond-the-century mark rushing performance from Chris Johnson and an opportunistic defense, the Tennessee Titans snapped their six-game losing streak with a 31-17 victory over the Houston Texans.

Additional thoughts on today's Titans' win, after the break.

Sorry about the lack of a Q&A this week-my fault.  Anyway, the lineups for today's game are trickling out, and the following players are inactive:

HOUSTON TEXAS
SS Quintin Demps, TE Garrett Graham, DE Jarvis Green, TE Anthony Hill, QB Matt Leinart (#3 QB), CB Brice McCain, G Shelley Smith, WR Derrick Townsel 

TENNESSEE TITANS
S Vinny Fuller, WR Lavelle Hawkins, S Robert Johnson, T/G Troy Kropog, DT Sen'Derrick Marks, TE Bo Scaife, QB Rusty Smith (#3 QB), LB David Thornton

For the Texans, they had a whole passel of players (12) listed as probable, and all of them are playing.  For the Titans, both Nickey and Haye are playing despite being listed as questionable, while Marks is out after that designation.

The big news though is Bo Scaife, who was not listed on the injury report and thus seems to be a healthy scratch.  With Bo not under contract for next year, Vinny Fuller also seems to be in the same category, but he's less of a surprise as he lost his nickel corner job to Alterraun Verner earlier in the year.

The big surprise active is newly-added corner Pete Ittersagen, but with Fuller down the Titans needed another body in the secondary.  Newly acquired DE Hall Davis and DT Malcolm Sheppard are also active. Craig Stevens starts at tight end for Scaife, Marques Douglas starts for Marks at DT, and Jacob Ford gets another start with Dave Ball going on IR.

Feel free to leave your comments here during today's game, or follow me on Twitter, where I'll be chiming in occasionally.

The last time the Titans were preparing to face the Houston Texans, both teams were on losing streaks. Tennessee was then on a three-game skid, which they have extended to six losses. The Texans were then on a four-game losing streak. They won that game, but have lost twice since then and have now lost six of their last seven games.

Abraham Lincoln, during a famous speech, once uttered that a house divided cannot stand. In 1858, the phrase was used towards the fractured state of affairs of our nation.

In 2010, the words can be applied to the Tennessee Titans.

Bo Scaife's recent quotes suggest that a "schism" exists in the Titans locker room, thanks to the ugly episode that took place after the Titans' loss to the Redskins involving a verbal confrontation between QB Vince Young and head coach Jeff Fisher.

It's the wonderful compressed part of the Titans' schedule, and that means a fourth straight game against a divisional opponent, a rematch against the same Houston Texans team the Titans fell to a mere 16 days ago.  Our Q&A this week will probably be an briefer one, but if you have any questions about the Texans, post them here and I'll include them.

"I am not too happy right now... We'll go up to the end of the season and then I'll make my decision. I am not very pleased with what has happened here."