Nashville, Tenn. ? Playing an opponent that has yielded 171 points in a four-game skid would seem the perfect prescription for a struggling team trying to keep its playoff hopes alive.

Not for the Denver Broncos.

The franchise with a growing reputation for late-season slumps is doing it again. The Broncos (8-6) have lost three of their past four, including two to teams with losing records, and they are tied with three other teams for the AFC’s final wild-card spot.

Now they will be spending Christmas away from their families for a game tonight against the Tennessee Titans (4-10), where the only thing that will seem like home will be temperatures in the low 20s.

“We are worried about ourselves,” Denver quarterback Jake Plummer said. “We know it is a Christmas Day game, and all of the distractions we have to put aside and get ready to play Tennessee and hopefully get a win.”

The Titans say they will be playing to win even though losing out could bump them up to No. 3 in next April’s draft.

“We know it doesn’t have any implications on our season, but you know what? It’s a win, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Titans defensive lineman Kevin Carter said.

This game is only the second meeting between Denver coach Mike Shanahan and Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher, two of the three coaches in the NFL who have been with their teams the past decade. Fisher won that first game in 1995 when his then-Oilers downed the Broncos, 42-33.

Shanahan even was college roommates with Titans offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, who joined Tennessee after five years as Denver’s receivers coach. Fisher said he and Heimerdinger smiled at each other when the schedule came out, thinking the prime-time game would have playoff implications.

“And it does,” Fisher said.