Chiefs Overcome Early Deficit, Defeat Titans 35-24 for AFC Championship

The Kansas City Chiefs will play in their first Super Bowl in 50 years after a thrilling victory over the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship Game.

It wasn’t easy for the home team. Tennessee took an early 17-7 lead on a tremendous performance in the first half of the game by running back Derrick Henry, who had anchored his team to impressive victories over the Patriots and Ravens. There’s a down side to centering your offense around one player, though: shut them down and you’ve effectively defanged their entire offense. And once the Chiefs figured that out, they minimized Tennessee’s impact on the rest of the game.

The #Titans played well, but a few things did them in:

1. Patrick

2. You can’t routinely let Mahomes outside the pocket.

3. You can’t give up the lead before halftime, knowing you’re a running team.

4. You must force a turnover against the #Chiefs

5. Mahomes

— Emmanuel Acho (@thEMANacho) January 19, 2020

Besides the home field advantage, Kansas City also had Patrick Mahomes, who had a tremendous game. This culminated in the quarterback making a 27-yard touchdown run with 11 seconds left in the first half. That might make Mahomes’s feat sound less impressive than it actually was; he also managed to dodge what appeared to be half of Tennessee’s defense en route to the end zone. It was a stunning play, and one which catapulted Kansas City into the lead; they didn’t relinquish it for the rest of the game.

Patrick Mahomes becomes the 1st player in Chiefs franchise history to ever record multiple Pass TD and a Rush TD in a postseason game … and he did it in the first half.

The Chiefs lead the Titans, 21-17, at halftime of the AFC Championship. pic.twitter.com/gMgCXRjvI7

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 19, 2020