INDIANAPOLIS | The Colts backups didn't make it easy on Tennessee.
The Titans, who needed to win Sunday night's NFL regular-season finale at the RCA Dome to qualify as the AFC's final seed for the playoffs, eked out a 16-10 win before a sellout crowd of 57,202.
Tennessee (10-6) relied on almost its full contingent of players to survive the defending Super Bowl champions, while the Colts went exclusively with backups for most of the final three quarters.
The Titans will travel to San Diego on Sunday to play the Chargers in a first round game.
The Colts have a bye and will host a divisional playoff game Jan. 13 at noon on CBS. Indianapolis (13-3) will play San Diego if the Chargers win. If Tennessee wins, Indy will host the winner between Pittsburgh and Jacksonville.
Cleveland's postseason aspirations came to an end with the Titans' win because the Colts were more interested in saving their regulars for what they hope is another deep run in the postseason.
Still, the Colts backups played well enough to keep them in the game. Titans kicker Rob Bironas drilled a 54-yard field goal with 7:33 remaining to break a 10-10 tie and added a 33-yarder with 2:56 to play.
"Our main goal was to get our younger guys experience, because for them, this is like a playoff game," said Colts defensive back Bob Sanders.
Trailing 16-10 on fourth-and-11 with less than two minutes remaining, Colts backup quarterback Jim Sorgi threw deep to Devin Aromashodu, but the ball came loose on a hit and fell incomplete. Sorgi finished 11-of-24 passing for 68 yards. The Colts ran the ball just 10 times for 46 yards.
"I thought our guys did a good job under the circumstances," said Colts coach Tony Dungy. "We just needed a couple of plays at the end."
Backup quarterback Kerry Collins filled in for the Titans after starter Vince Young left the game with in the third quarter with a strained quadriceps. Collins finished 10-of-13 for 106 yards and directed Tennessee on three scoring drives.
Colts starter Peyton Manning finished an efficient 14-of-16 passing for 95 yards in a quarter-and-a-half of play. Wideout Reggie Wayne added 12 receptions for 87 yards. The Colts trailed 7-3 when both left the game in the second quarter.
"We had hoped to have the lead when our first group went out," Dungy said. "That was probably the one thing we wanted that we didn't accomplish, but all in all, it wasn't a bad night."
