Tennessee Titans: Only the Chiefs stand in the way of Super Bowl 54

After slaying two giants already in the playoffs, the Tennessee Titans only roadblock to the Super Bowl is the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Tennessee Titans, after upsetting the Baltimore Ravens on the heels of also upsetting the Patriots in the first two rounds of the 2020 NFL Playoffs, go on the road for the third straight week in the postseason. This time, they’ll travel to Arrowhead Stadium where the Kansas City Chiefs await them.

In Baltimore, Derrick Henry continued his torrid playoff run as he rushed for 195 yards. While he didn’t rush for a score, he threw a touchdown pass to Corey Davis on a beautifully designed trick play. With that effort, Henry also became the first player in NFL history with three consecutive games of at least 180 rushing yards after putting 182 on the Pats and registering 216 in Week 17.

However, it wasn’t just Henry and the run game that stepped against Baltimore. The Titans defense continued to play at a high level, largely stifling the powerful Ravens offense. They sacked Lamar Jackson four times, intercepted him twice and, of course, stonewalled him on two key fourth-and-1 attempts.

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As for the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes and his team defeated the Houston Texans on Sunday in the Divisional Round in a game where they trailed 24-0 early in the second quarter. Kansas City then reeled off 41 unanswered points to secure the 51-31 victory and advance to the AFC Championship Game against the Titans.

Going up against the vaunted Chiefs, Tennessee is underdogs once again. That hasn’t stopped to this point, however. And if they stick to their gameplan, they can pull off yet another upset to finally return to the Super Bowl.

For starters, the “run Henry” recipe has been successful. As long as it continues that way, they need to keep running Henry at the Chiefs until they prove they can stop him consistently. Though the Kansas City run defense has improved statistically over the past two months, they’ll need to prove it against the hottest rushing attack we’ve seen in quite some time.

On the other side of the ball, after surviving the tough tasks of facing Tom Brady and then shutting down the clear MVP in Lamar Jackson, it doesn’t ease up for the Titans defense. Their next assignment will be slowing down reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes. But with the tenacity, discipline, force and belief this team has played with, they’re likely up for the challenge.

Having said that, the Chiefs proved against Houston that they can come back from a huge deficit given the potency of their offense. The Titans need to get out to an early lead and keep putting up points, not letting their foot off the gas. The success of Henry will help with long, sustained drives and allow time to come off the clock.

But the real question is if Tennessee can execute those things. As for me, I believe they will. And the game will look this for the Titans.

The Chiefs, much like the Patriots and Ravens before them, will have trouble stopping Henry, who will tally a fourth straight 180-yard rushing game but will also find the end zone twice. Meanwhile, Ryan Tannehill will shed the stigma of two straight games with under 100 passing yards and finish the game with over 300 yards and two touchdowns.

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Defensively, the Titans will stick to a similar gameplan as they used last week to contain Lamar Jackson, with similar results. The Titans will pull out a victory by a two-score margin.

And they will be back in the Super Bowl for the first time in 20 years. Final Score: Titans 34 Chiefs 24

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