NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As the Tennessee Titans stand two weeks from their bye week, they know their season can go one of two ways.

If they could somehow win on the road against the Redskins this week and then return home to defeat the Houston Texans, a season that had flown off the rails with a four-game losing streak might actually be able to be removed from life support.

Two wins, despite coming against less-than-top echelon competition, would somehow put the Titans at 4-4 at the halfway point of the season.

Of course, the Titans can’t afford to take any team for granted after blowing a 25-point lead against Cleveland two weeks ago and needing a blocked field against winless Jacksonville to avoid a second straight collapse at home this past Sunday.

But wins are wins, and any thought of returning to .500 would have been considered farfetched for the shell-shocked Titans in the aftermath of the loss to the Browns.

“We still have the mentality of one game at a time, but you can still look at the big picture where maybe if we do well over these next two games, we can give them some kind of reward over the bye week. We can provide some incentives, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

The Titans have a very slim margin for error because losses in both games would certainly make them write the season off, and splitting the two games before the bye would have the Titans again wondering if they could soldier on in hopes of putting something together over the last half of the season or should they shift into rebuilding mode.

The other factor will be how well the Titans are able to do with a patchwork lineup that now includes a lot of young players asked to play key roles.

With the loss of left tackle Michael Roos, first-round pick Taylor Lewan now becomes the starter a little sooner than expected. Bernard Pollard’s season-ending Achilles injury also puts Daimion Stafford on the field at strong safety after his previous experience had been only in preseason and on special teams.

Also, rookies like Marqueston Huff, Bishop Sankey and Avery Williamson are all playing bigger roles, and though all played well in the win over Jacksonville, there will no doubt be a few growing pains that will come as the season goes on and the competition improves beyond the last-place Jaguars.

REPORT CARD VS. JAGUARS

PASSING OFFENSE: C-plus — Charlie Whitehurst was efficient, going 17 of 28 for 223 yards and no touchdowns, but more importantly, no interceptions. Kendall Wright, last year’s leading receiver, was a non-factor with one catch for six yards.

RUSHING OFFENSE: D — Bishop Sankey did OK with 61 yards, but the Titans had just 70 yards as a team. That was an indictment of the offensive line as much as it was the running backs.

PASS DEFENSE: C — The Titans gave up 336 yards passing to rookie Blake Bortles, with a lot of that coming on screens with runs after the catch. They redeemed themselves with an interception and a fumble recovery after another completion in the red zone. The Titans also had six sacks against the weak Jaguars offensive line.

RUSH DEFENSE: A — The Titans excelled here, allowing Jacksonville to run for only 82 yards in the game. When it came down to it, it helped to make the Jaguars one-dimensional.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B-plus — Michael Griffin failed to recover an onside kick, and while that was the only mistake, it was nearly fatal. Ryan Succop had three field goals, Leon Washington had a nice kickoff return, and Sammie Hill’s blocked field goal saved the day.

COACHING: B — They had to burn two timeouts a little unnecessarily, but the Titans coaching staff did a good job in preparing some new starters and contributors to play on Sunday. That shows good preparation during the week.