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NFL Wild Card Match Up: Titans at Chiefs

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Our wait is over. While many of the top seeds in this year’s playoff bracket were set, the Wild Card games were still up for grabs on the final week of the season. By virtue of their victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tennessee Titans (9-7) earned the right to travel to Arrowhead Stadium and take on the AFC West Champion Kansas City Chiefs (10-6).

The game is set for a 4:20 p.m. EST kick off and will be broadcast on ABC and ESPN both. If the news and rumors are accurate (and they probably are), this will be your last chance to enjoy Jon Gruden in the booth before he takes over the Oakland Raiders officially next week. Probably Monday, is my guess.

The Game: Tennessee Titans at Kansas City Chiefs (-7)

O/U: 44.5

The History

The Titans and Chiefs have met up 51 times with Kansas City holding a 29-22 advantage in the all-time series.

Kansas City has won the last two meetings with the Titans in 2014 and 2016, both at Arrowhead, 26-10 and 19-17 last year.

TENNESSEE TITANS (9-7)

God help the Titans fan base because this one could get ugly early. Tennessee slides into the playoffs after a lackluster 15-10 win at home over the just as lackluster Jacksonville Jaguars on the final day of the regular season. The victory halted a three-game losing streak in which the Titans lost to 75 percent of the NFC West, the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams.

First off, let’s take a look at the injury report. Tennessee may want to avert its eyes. Running back DeMarco Murray, rookie wide receiver Corey Davis and safety Johnathan Cyprien have all been held out of practice this week with hamstring issues. Murray has already been officially ruled out of Sunday’s game. Davis and Cyprien’s status is still up in the air. Left guard Quinton Spain is on the wrong side of “questionable” with a lower back injury and the team is already talking about starting Brian Schwenke.

How healthy is Marcus Mariota? He still doesn’t look right after suffering a leg injury midway through the season. The Jaguars sacked him three times and he finished 12-of-21 passing for 134 yards and a touchdown. He did lead the team rushing with 10 carries for 60 yards. That’s not good.

Derrick Henry will get the call again in the backfield after carrying the ball 28 times for 51 yards against Jacksonville. He did catch one pass for 66 yards and a score. The Chiefs don’t nearly have the same defensive front as the Jags, so he could be more productive on the ground Saturday afternoon. For the Titans to have any chance in this game, they’ll need him to be.

Jacksonville completely shut down Tennessee’s wide receivers and pass catchers. Delanie Walker and Eric Decker both caught three passes apiece, but Walker only accounted for 19 yards and Decker 18. It wasn’t a busy day.

On defense, the Titans forced five turnovers, including two Blake Bortles interceptions. Alex Smith will not be so generous. Tennessee will need to get a lot more pressure out of its defense. They sacked Bortles just twice and got just four stops in the backfield.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (10-6)

The Chiefs put their midseason swoon behind them with a Christmas season to remember. Kansas City finished up 2017 by winning four consecutive games, with three of them knocking down AFC West rivals. Their final contest, a 27-24 victory over the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, they had no business winning.

The Chiefs started rookie quarterback Patrick Mahomes, barely played running back Kareem Hunt and sat speedster wide receiver Tyreek Hill on offense. On defense, Justin Houston, Tamba Hali and Dee Ford all kept their seats on the sidelines. Yet, the Chiefs still got the victory and that’s a pretty solid statement. I’ve said since November the AFC was a two-team race between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots. The Chiefs, if they play like they did in the first and final months of the season, are the one team that can screw that up.

Alex Smith rolls into this game a free agent at the end of the year. Does that mean he’ll be back in Kansas City? If he wins a Super Bowl, it most definitely will. Any other result puts that question on the table. Regardless, he’ll be starting somewhere in 2018 after posting a 67.5 completion percentage for 4,042 yards, 26 touchdowns and just five interceptions.

The Chiefs have a thousand-yard rusher in Hunt (1,327) and two thousand-yard receivers in Hill (1,183) and tight end Travis Kelce (1,038). Head coach Andy Reid can use these guys to create match up nightmares, especially with the under-rated Albert Wilson on the outside at receiver. The idea of Reid matching wits with the Titans’ bumbling lunkhead, Mike Mularkey, is a joke that writes itself.

Hali may not play with a knee injury, but every other key starter and contributor is expected to suit up for Kansas City.

Fun Fact

The Chiefs and Titans have met in the playoffs twice before, but not once since the team moved to Tennessee in 1997. The then Houston Oilers, led by Hall of Famer Warren Moon, fell 28-20 to Kansas City, led by Hall of Famer Joe Montana. Moon passed for 306 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Montana had 299 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Pick

The shame here is Mularkey has an incredibly talented team that he’s completely wasting due to his incompetence. At some point, you have to move beyond blaming the head coach and instead look at the people who continue to employ the loser. If Mularkey still has a job next week, start the angry email and social media barrage at team president Amy Adams Strunk. If this is a fan base that cross-pollinates with the Tennessee Volunteers’ angry horde, this could be an eventful week or so. I don’t see this game being competitive past the first quarter. A blowout loss here might negate any good vibes Mularkey accidentally fell into by getting into the postseason. For the Titans’ sake, let’s hope it does. Chiefs 38, Titans 20

Last week

Straight up: 8-8

Against the spread: 2-14

Season

Straight up: 157-99

Against the spread: 126-130

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Written by Adam Greene

Adam Greene is a writer and photographer based out of East Tennessee. His work has appeared on Cracked.com, in USA Today, the Associated Press, the Chicago Cubs Vineline Magazine, AskMen.com and many other publications.

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