Would Tennessee Titans rather face Chiefs or Texans in AFC Championship?

The Tennessee Titans are the playoff dark horses no one wants to play but are they better suited to take on the Chiefs or Texans in the AFC Championship?

Stopping Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans feels like it might not be possible right now. After Mike Vrabel‘s team went on the road as the AFC’s No. 6 seed and upset the Patriots in the Wild Card Round, they followed that up by knocking off the best team in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens, on Saturday in the Divisional Round in decisive fashion.

Henry has been the catalyst for the Titans run in the 2020 playoffs to this point, rushing for over 180 yards in both games and becoming the first player in NFL history with three consecutive games with at least 180 rushing yards. Ryan Tannehill has been fine but, frankly, hasn’t had to do all that much with Henry and a fired-up defense leading the charge.

With the victory on the road in Baltimore, Tennessee is now heading to the AFC Championship Game next weekend. As the No. 6 seed in the conference, they know they’ll be on the road but they don’t yet know whether they’ll be facing the Kansas City Chiefs or Houston Texans, who face off in the other AFC Divisional Round matchup on Sunday.

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Given how dominant Tennessee has been through two playoff games, they have to like their chances against anyone if they can keep their winning formula intact. However, who would be their preferred matchup in the AFC Championship Game: the Chiefs or Texans?

The Titans faced both Kansas City and Houston (twice) in the regular season and picked up a victory over both, losing once to the Texans in Week 15, however. Based off of the seeding though, you would likely assume that the Titans would rather play the Texans. And that may well be the case but it’s not that cut and dry.

There is a strong sense of familiarity between Houston and Tennessee and it’s worth noting that the Titans’ victory over the Texans came as Houston was resting many of their starters in Week 17. In the Week 15 loss to the Texans, the Titans struggled to contain Carlos Hyde and the combo of Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins. Perhaps more importantly, Henry was bottled up for only 86 yards on 21 carries.

Of course, the Titans defense wasn’t exactly at their best when they outlasted the Chiefs in a 35-32 barnburner. Patrick Mahomes made his return from injury in that game and exploded for 446 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. However, Kansas City had no answer for Henry, who rushed for 188 yards and two scores while Tannehill had an efficient day, going 13-of-19 for 181 yards and two scores.

The narrative around the Chiefs for much of the year has been their lackluster defense not being able to match their explosive offense. At the end of the regular season, however, that started to change as KC turned it up on that side of the ball, allowing only 10.4 points per game over their final five outings.

As for the Texans, this is a team that often seems to be playing on borrowed time. Yes, they have a win over Tennessee but they also have a bad offensive line, injury-prone skill position players (Re: Will Fuller), a porous defense and an unhealthily heavy reliance on Watson to bail them out.

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With the way the Chiefs have been playing — even though the Titans beat them in the regular season — you have to believe that Tennessee would rather see their AFC South rivals in the Texans in the AFC Championship Game. There are simply fewer ways that Houston can beat the Titans than there are for the Chiefs to find success.

Having said that, with the way Vrabel’s team has performed on both sides of the ball so far in the playoffs, you have to like the Titans’ chances at this point no matter if they face the Chiefs or Texans for the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl.

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