PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Tennessee Titans are rolling into the playoffs the way the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams wish they were.

The Titans scored 17 points in barely a minute of the second quarter with Steve McNair and Eddie George already out, then wrapped up the franchise's best season ever by beating Pittsburgh 47-36 Sunday.

	Titans quarterback Steve McNair was effective in limited action.

Jacksonville (14-2) locked up the AFC Central with a 24-7 victory over Cincinnati, making the game meaningless for the Titans. They didn't play like it as their defense generated 16 points and set up another score in tuning up for Saturday's home playoff game against Buffalo.

The Titans, who played as the Oilers until 1998, are the first 13-3 team since divisional play began in 1970 to not win its division.

"We were aware of what took place in Jacksonville," said coach Jeff Fisher, whose Titans played much better with nothing at stake Sunday than two other contenders, Indianapolis and St. Louis, did in losing.

"We came to win this game, but take some players out and get them some rest," Fisher said. "We accomplished a lot as far as 13 wins, but it all starts now."

It will be the franchise's first playoff game against Buffalo since the Bills rallied from a 35-3 deficit to beat the then-Houston Oilers 41-38 in the 1992 season.

"Remember it? If I remember that pain, I would never play football again, so it's out of sight, out of mind to me," Titans guard Bruce Matthews said.

George, who gained 32 yards on eight carries before being lifted, predicted the Titans can go far in the playoffs -- very far.

GAME NOTES

Unlike the week before, when Carolina's offense shut down amid a second-half snow storm as the Steelers won 30-20, the weather wasn't a factor. The game time temperature was 70. The Titans finished 9-1 in the AFC Central. Jevon Kearse set an NFL rookie record of 14½ sacks. The Steelers twice tried tackle-eligible passes near the goal line to 37-year-old Jim Sweeney, who was playing his final game. The Titans were called for pass interference on one pass, immediately before the sequence in which Jerome Bettis was halted on four successive plays. Summing up the Steelers' offensive frustration: They allowed nearly as many safeties (five) as quarterback Kordell Stewart had touchdown passes (six) this season. Tennessee's Craig Hentrich had a 78-yard punt. The 47 points were the most by an opposing team in Pittsburgh since Cleveland's 51-0 victory in 1989.

"We can't get wrapped up in being 13-3, but we're in the dance now and we have a very realistic chance to be in Atlanta (for the Super Bowl)," George said. "We can play the entire month of January, but we have to be sure we're not satisfied."

The Steelers (6-10) lost seven of eight to finish their worst season since they were 5-11 in 1988. They are 13-19 since losing to Denver in the AFC title game two years ago and have lost 15 of their last 21.

Even worse, they went 0-5 at home against the AFC Central, and their 2-6 home record was their worst since moving into Three Rivers Stadium in 1970.

"I've never seen anything like it. This game was a microcosm of the season, and more," linebacker Levon Kirkland said. "This was how the whole year has been. The whole year's been weak."

"I'm very frustrated and very disappointed," coach Bill Cowher said. "It's nowhere near what we expected."

Perhaps CBS knew what it was doing by not showing the start of the game in Pittsburgh, carrying the Oakland-Kansas City thriller until McNair's 9-yard touchdown pass to Frank Wycheck put the Titans up 7-0 with about five minutes gone.

Neil O'Donnell replaced McNair with the Titans up 14-7 to throw two touchdown passes, and rookie Jevon Kearse and Denard Walker scored on two of the game's three fumble return touchdowns.

John Thornton also sacked Mike Tomczak for a safety as the Titans' defense finished the season with 39 turnovers -- 23 fumbles and 16 interceptions.

Still, the Steelers had a chance to cut the deficit to three points after falling behind 31-7, scoring twice in 13 seconds late in the third quarter on Jerome Bettis' 1-yard run and rookie Joey Porter's 46-yard fumble return.

The Steelers, who have lost five in a row to Tennessee, then got the ball back on Kirkland's 23-yard interception return, and Bettis gained 4 yards to the 1.

But Bettis was halted on four successive short-yardage runs, with Thornton stopping him on fourth-and-inches to preserve the Titans' 40-29 lead. Walker later put the game out of reach with an 83-yard touchdown return of Richard Huntley's fumble.

Earlier, Joe Bowden's 29-yard interception return set up O'Donnell's 26-yard TD pass to Wycheck and a 21-7 Titans lead with 1:11 left in the first half. Kearse scored 10 seconds later with a 14-yard return of Tomczak's fumble, and Al Del Greco added a 42-yard field goal nine seconds before halftime after Pittsburgh punter Josh Miller bobbled a snap from center.

McNair, who threw five TD passes against Jacksonville last week, was 9-of-11 for 107 yards. O'Donnell was 6-of-12 for 109 yards in his first game in Pittsburgh since leading the Steelers to the Super Bowl in the 1995 season.