And now, he and the Tennessee Titans are on their way to the Super Bowl after defeating Jacksonville 33-14.

McNair jitterbugged his way all around the Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game, punctuating it with a 51-yard dash in the fourth quarter that set up the wrap-up touchdown.

Naturally, he also scored it.

Time after time, he seemed pinned, caught with no place to go. Then he'd sidestep a tackler, head fake another, and the next thing, he was either running downfield or passing there.

He showed up in Jacksonville on Friday wearing a boot on his left foot to protect one of football's more modern injuries -- turf toe.

McNair was listed as questionable for the game which, in the lexicon of the NFL, meant he was 50-50. On game day, though, he turned out to be 100 percent. The only question was how many yards he would generate.

He ran seven times for 93 yards and completed 14 of 23 passes for 112 more.

Things did not start out all that well. On Tennessee's first play from scrimmage, the Titans were called for delay of game.

The first series went nowhere and the second was headed in the same direction when Carnell Lake intercepted a pass by McNair with Jacksonville already leading 7-0, But Lake was called for interference on the play and the penalty was a reprieve for McNair. -->

Suddenly, he was Air McNair again, poised and picking the Jaguars apart. A run here, a pass there and he took Tennessee into the end zone to tie the score.

Midway through the second quarter, McNair lost his favorite receiver when Yancey Thigpen suffered a broken right foot.

No problem. McNair simply found other places to go, sometimes to Eddie George, sometimes to Jackie Harris. He completed passes to seven different receivers.

The most impressive came on Tennessee's first possession of the second half. Trapped by Kevin Hardy, McNair danced away from a sure sack and hit George for 15 yards.

Tony Brackens, who had flattened him in the second quarter and knocked the air out of McNair, nailed him again on the play. This time, though, the hit was late and the penalty added 15 more yards for the Titans.

Tennessee continued on into the end zone, a go-ahead TD scored by McNair and the start of a 16-point spurt in a span of less than five minutes that put the Titans in charge of the game.

This was McNair, comfortable and competent. There were no five-touchdown fireworks like the last time he faced the Jaguars. This was a quarterback in charge, able to do just about anything he wanted, whenever he wanted.