Tennessee sports has a flair for the dramatic. Three years ago, the upstart Nashville Predators decimated a top-ranked Chicago Blackhawks team en route to their lone appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. This season, the Tennessee Titans--at 9-7--managed to pull off not one, but two massive playoff upsets. A Wild Card win in Foxboro was followed by a Divisional Playoff win over the 14-2 Ravens (Baltimore's first loss since September), and as a result, the Titans are playing for the Conference for the first time since 2002. The key to their success? Two words: Derrick Henry. Henry has been the NFL's best kept secret. The secret is out now. We all know he is the best rusher in the league today.
The Kansas City Chiefs are in their second straight AFC Championship Game, though it was almost not to be. KC started off very poorly; down 24-0 to the Houston Texans, but Houston literally stopped playing afterwards, as KC only needed 10 minutes of game time to take a halftime lead, and never looked back. Kansas City finished 12-4 this season, and their H2H over New England earned them a first-round bye and a home game in the Divisional Playoff, and Baltimore's loss gives them home field in the AFC Championship for the 2nd straight year.
Trivia: Sunday's win was only the Chiefs' second home playoff win in the last 25 years--their only other one came in last year's Divisional Playoff. This game is a rematch of their Week 10 encounter, which was won by the Titans, and is the first playoff meeting since their Wild Card encounter two years ago, which saw the Titans win 22-21 in comeback fashion at Arrowhead. That game was Alex Smith's last as Chiefs' QB. Tennessee has the edge in RB and defense, but all other categories go to KC. KC's home playoff woes have been documented. Last year, they lost by one play in OT. That will not be the case this time.
Prediction: Chiefs by 10
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