The Titans finally reached their destination Monday: Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta.

In reality, though, it's not so much Cinderella as it is Dorothy. Tennessee isn't Kansas, of course, but after three years on the road, the Titans finally made it home this season.

And that's a big reason why they made it to Super Bowl XXXIV.

Don't be fooled by the destiny talk you'll hear bandied about this week. Sure, the Titans rode the Music City Miracle kickoff return to a wild-card win over Buffalo. But this is no garden-variety team of destiny you're looking at. This is a club that forged its identity under some seriously adverse conditions and a team that finally had a reason to be optimistic this season.

"What we've been through has an awful lot to do with us being here," coach Jeff Fisher said at Monday's late, chilly press conference in a parking-lot tent outside the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead, just north of downtown Atlanta. "This team has played without distractions this year, or played through the minor ones."

That's in stark contrast to the previous three seasons, when life was one big distraction.

After playing the 1996 season as the lame-duck Houston Oilers, the franchise hit the road, spending the 1997 season at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., and the 1998 season at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

In all three of those seasons, Tennessee finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs -- pretty darn average. Moreover, the Oilers (as they were known until this season) went a respectable 13-11 on the road in those seasons. Of course, that means they were exactly the opposite at home, such as home was.

In three years, playing for crowds as small as 15,000 (in the last game in Houston) and 17,000 (twice at the Liberty Bowl in '97) the franchise lost 13 home games by an average of nine points each.

"We had no home-field advantage," veteran guard Bruce Matthews said. "It was very disappointing based on what we thought Tennessee was going to be. But Jeff (Fisher) kept saying, 'Wait until we get to Nashville.' "

This year, with a new home and a new nickname, things finally started looking up. The Adelphia Coliseum became one of the toughest stadiums for visiting teams, and the fans in Nashville became some of the most passionate in the league.

The team? It won, going 13-3 in the regular season and beating the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars on the road after the home wild-card victory over Buffalo in the playoffs.

"They didn't know if (the 8-8 records were) because of the things we were going through or if we were just an 8-8 team," Fisher said. "They found out this year that a lot of what we went through prohibited us from doing the things we were capable of."

But what they went through then also steeled them for what they're going through now.

"You learn from a lot of different things that happen in those four years," quarterback Steve McNair said. "Now you can look back and turn it into a positive, so that what we went through then helped us to be in the position we're in now."

That position, of course, is in the Super Bowl, where they again are the underdog in a playoff game away from home. But these road warriors aren't fazed by such things.

"You get used to playing under road conditions," Matthews said. "At Jacksonville and Indianapolis, we got down in both of those games, but there was a comfort level."

Since rallying to blow out the Jaguars on Sunday, the Titans have flown back to Nashville for an intimate welcome-home reception attended by 40,000 of their closest fans at Adelphia, met to discuss logistics for the trip to Atlanta, handled ticket requests from friends and family, then hopped a plane late Monday to make it to the Super Bowl city in time to meet the cameras.

Oh, and the assistant coaches stayed behind in Nashville to draw up the game plan. They'll fly to Atlanta while the players do media day on Tuesday.

Distractions? Not for this team.

"I guess it wouldn't be right if it wasn't something different," safety Blaine Bishop said. "That's how this team functions. There's always something going on.