Tennessee Titans: Time to Move Ahead with Jake Locker as Starting QB

The chances of the Tennessee Titans making the playoffs officially went on life support after coming out completely flat in a loss to the winless Indianapolis Colts.

With the loss, the Titans will not only need to win their last two games, but they'll also need a ton of help from the likes of Oakland, San Diego, Cincinnati and the New York Jets.

Many expected Jake Locker to start against the Colts after Matt Hasselbeck was limited in practice and the fact that Locker has looked so sharp in his brief appearances this season.

Despite what might have been popular demand, Mike Munchak decided to stick with Hasselbeck as the starter and will do so again this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Hasselbeck has been running on fumes the last few weeks, and his age could be catching up with him towards this end of this season. He's begun to look very similar to what Kerry Collins gave the Titans for so long—which was experience, but no pop.

Now the Titans have their future franchise quarterback waiting to get his chance, and the rookie has looked more than ready to take on the responsibility of being a starter in the NFL.

Granted most of his work has come at the end of a game where the defense is playing soft coverage, but what you're really looking for is confidence and leadership in the huddle.

Locker has shown both of those traits in the games he's appeared in. The guy has all the confidence in the world and is only going to get better with each meaningful snap he takes.

Taking Hasselbeck out for Locker as this point would not be a stab at what he's provided for this team this season, which has been an unexpected attempt at the playoffs.

Mathematically the Titans can still make it if the Bengals and the Jets both tank in their last two games.

The truth is that Hasselbeck is reeling and can't offer the Titans his full potential. He's turned into a sitting duck inside the pocket with very little mobility, and his accuracy has decreased as well.

Chris Johnson is also still struggling and that coupled with Hasselbeck struggling makes the Titans offense about as one-dimensional as you can get.

On the other hand, Locker would give this offense a new dimension for defenses to worry about. It would throw a curveball to the Titans' final two opponents and give them a new look.

Unfortunately, it looks that it's going to take the Titans being officially eliminated from playoff contention before Munchak gives Locker a chance as a starter.

By that time it won't really matter because the stakes will be meaningless, and it won't give us an accurate portrayal of what Locker can do at this point in his young career.