Tennessee Titans Face the Question of Starting Jake Locker

We knew that there was a high probability coming into this season that Jake Locker would be forced in for Matt Hasselbeck at some point, and that happened today in a 23-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Despite coming into a very difficult situation where the Titans offense was pretty much getting dominated, Locker still managed to come in and give the Titans a glimmer of hope at the end.

Locker finished with two touchdowns and 140 yards in limited action.

Now, how much of that success can be attributed to the Falcons simply not being prepared for Locker's skill set as opposed to Hasselbeck's skill set? That matter is up for debate, but you can't argue that Locker has a cannon for an arm and brings great leadership to the huddle for a rookie.

It was very impressive to see Locker commanding the huddle, almost like he had been the starter the entire season.

It's unclear at this point what the extent of Hasselbeck's injury is, but it has something to do with his elbow. No matter what, it leaves the Titans in an interesting dilemma going forward.

There's no arguing the fact that Locker is the future of this franchise, but Hasselbeck was brought in this offseason to manage the team until Locker was ready.

Judging by Locker's performance against the Falcons, you could make a reasonable argument that Locker is ready now.

Hasselbeck has played well pretty much the entire season, so it would be hard to bench a guy that has such good numbers, even if he isn't the future of the franchise.

The loss to the Falcons drops the Titans two games back behind the idle Houston Texans in the standings, so there's still a small chance they could catch them over the last six games.

At this point, you probably have to continue on with Hasselbeck, unless his injury seriously hinders his ability to play the position effectively.

Locker looked great today, but you always have to take the good with the bad when it comes to rookie quarterbacks.

Cam Newton started off on a record pace before showing his true colors as a rookie. Locker would most likely suffer the same kinds of things if he became the full-time starter.

The Titans should stay the course with Hasselbeck until the playoffs are fully out of reach. Once the offseason gets here, you can let these guys battle it out for the starting job next season.

It's a good problem to have if you're the Titans, but the Titans have a host of other serious problems they need to find solutions to before they can even expect to catch the Texans for a division title.