By Michael Wilbon
Washington Post Columnist
Sunday, Jan. 30, 2000; Page D1

ATLANTA – In the third week of the season, the Tennessee Titans went to Jacksonville and beat the Jaguars. Five weeks later, the Titans beat the St. Louis Rams. In the next-to-last week of the regular season, with the stakes high and Jacksonville hell-bent on avenging an earlier loss to Tennessee, the Titans beat the Jaguars, 41-14. In the playoffs, Tennessee has defeated the Bills, who won 11 games, the Colts who won 13, and for a third time the Jaguars, who also won 14. The AFC's three best teams all lost to the Titans. The NFC's best team, the Rams, has lost to the Titans.

What more do we need to know, people?

The Tennessee Titans, bad uniforms and all, are going to win the Super Bowl Sunday night. They are not the most stylish team, nor the most entertaining team, nor the most explosive team. But they are the best team. The only thing the Titans are lacking is pedigree and national television appearances, two things that can't help the Rams on Sunday.

I agree with Titans tackle Brad Hopkins, who said this week: "School has been in session all season. If the fans across the nation don't recognize that, that's not our problem. We're playing great football now. Our confidence is at its peak. Our show began the second week of September. If someone hasn't caught our show, it's their fault."

Tennessee's show is an attacking defense that at times can be nearly as good as Tampa Bay's, and a no-frills, straight-ahead, power offense that grinds opponents to dust by the fourth quarter.

There's no team in the league that can out-dazzle St. Louis. Coach Dick Vermeil said Friday he can "put [his offense] in high gear because you are in a position to put on the field five guys that can touch the ball, they can all score."

As Rams wide receiver Az-zahir Hakim said of his team's ability to get wide receivers and running backs open: "All of a sudden, you're turning around looking at a guy who's gone and you're asking yourself, 'Whose man is that?'‚"

Without question, St. Louis has the kind of offense that makes most opponents crazy. Kurt Warner is the league's story of the year. Vermeil went so far as to say: "If he has a bad quarter, that's about as long a period of time as he will go when he's not sharp. I've been around the NFL player of the year in Roman Gabriel . . . Ron Jaworski [who led Vermeil's Eagles to the Super Bowl] was NFC player of the year. But neither had quite the throwing talents this guy has."

The problem is, even though the Buccaneers lost in the NFC championship game, they provided the Titans with a blueprint for how to beat the Rams. It starts with getting pressure on Warner. When the Bucs did it, Warner struggled. If there is any defense you would want facing the Rams – other than Tampa Bay's – it would be Tennessee's. Titans Coach Jeff Fisher played for Buddy Ryan. Fisher uses Ryan's 46 defense, which is designed to hunt down quarterbacks. Titans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said this week: "Jeff grew up with the inventor of that defense and it's something we've all grown to embrace. We've got over 50 blitzes and we try to use them all."

Having played the Rams just a week ago, when the Rams' offense scored only nine points, Tampa Bay defensive lineman Warren Sapp qualifies as an expert on dealing with St. Louis. Sapp says if the Titans go with man-to-man pressure, they'll get shredded by the Rams. Sapp says Rams running back Marshall Faulk and the St. Louis wide receivers can't be covered in a straight man-to-man defense the entire game, and that Tennessee will have to modify what it normally does.

Fisher simply says he has identified his defense's No. 1 priority. "Marshall Faulk," Fisher said. "He's the guy you have to stop. I'm not lessening the importance of the other players in their offense, but to have a chance you have to minimize his big plays. If you don't stop him, you are vulnerable."

Attacking on defense is one way, playing keep-away on offense is the other. The Titans are perfectly suited to do both. They make no secret of their game plan; they will play it relatively close to the vest. Quarterback Steve McNair could be the most important player in the game. "We do have a very conservative offense," he said this week. "It's all about running the football first, and then we'll pass if we have to."

With the Rams expecting a two-man rushing onslaught from Eddie George and McNair, could Fisher have McNair come out winging it? Possibly. Cynics look at McNair's paltry passing statistics and presume he can't throw. "I think that's totally distorted," offensive coordinator Les Steckel said. "We told Steve in the opener against Cincinnati that we had to score 35 points. That was the mission statement by the head coach. . . . [Fisher] said, 'Les, you have to get 35 for us.' So we had to throw; you can't get 35 points running the football. That was the one game we asked him to do that. We scored 36 points, and Steve threw for more than 300 yards. I have not said that to him since. . . . I think Steve has bought into what we're doing. It's called being unselfish."

I'm betting the Titans will open up their offense just enough, get a lead, then grind it out late and play keep-away. Tennessee may be conservative, but it isn't one-dimensional, like Tampa Bay. For the second consecutive week, the Rams will find their wide-open spaces closed and their speed checked, which should be exactly what the Titans need to win the franchise's first Super Bowl, by a field goal.