The Tennessee Titans’ season was mostly ended by a shocking 0-6 start that left the team looking way up in the standings.

It was a disappointing and ugly start for a highly thought of team that won 13 games last year during the regular season.

But not all is lost. The Titans are amidst a three-game winning streak and are leading the Houston Texans by a field goal midway through the third quarter of tonight’s matchup.

More importantly for the long-term, Vince Young looks like a different quarterback.

The third pick in the 2006 draft flashed a ton of potential while posting middling stats as a rookie. His struggles worsened in 2007 in 15 starts and in 2008, he struggled in the opener, got hurt, lost his job to Kerry Collins and ended up having some personal issues that reportedly really had the Titans worried.

But the Titans held on to Young, stashing him for a season as Collins took the reins. The time away from the spotlight apparently gave Young a chance to better learn the system – and to mature into a better leader.

He’s shown some fight tonight, taking on tacklers and getting into the faces of Texans defenders who have skirmished with Titans players after whistles. He’s scrambled to keep plays alive and thrown some nice balls both short and long, flashing more than a few signs that he might start to fulfill his potential.

The sequence I’ve been most impressed with came following a couple of mistakes. First there was the drive where he lost the fumble. The following series, on 2nd and 4 he threw a long pass that should have been intercepted by Dunta Robinson. He clapped his hands, shook it off, dropped back on third down, found nobody open, then took off on a six yard gain for a first down.

He made another play on 3rd and 9 a few plays later. The drive led to a field goal that gave Tennessee a 17-14 lead.

The Titans are blocking downfield. They’re making plays in the passing game. And Chris Johnson and Young are teaming up to give the Titans a wonderful running game – including the use of the option, which the duo executed twice in the first half to perfection.

I admit it. I thought Young was going to be a bust. His throwing motion coming out of college screamed disaster and he just didn’t seem to have the “it” factor people talk about. It appears as though he was the poster child for a quarterback who needs to sit the bench for a couple years after arriving in the pros.

A year on the bench has done him good. He’s calmer. He seems more mature.

Now, make no mistake – any quarterback is going to be helped by having a running back like Chris Johnson. The Titans are a running team first and Johnson is the biggest star on the offense. But Young is still making plays and minimizing mistakes. He finally looks like a quarterback whose mind is catching up with the athletic ability that got him drafted so high in the first place.

So even if the Titans aren’t able to rebound and become the first 0-6 team to ever make the playoffs this season might not be a total loss.