KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Tennessee Titans hoped to follow the same game plan against the Kansas City Chiefs that had carried them to playoff wins at Baltimore and New England, giving the ball to running back Derrick Henry as much as possible.
It was a bad sign that their bruising star never got a carry in the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs minimized the impact Henry had on the AFC championship game Sunday, holding him to a mere 7 yards after halftime, when Patrick Mahomes and Co. were capping a run of 28 consecutive points. The result was a 35-24 victory that sent Kansas City to its first Super Bowl in 50 years and the Titans home after an incredible postseason ride.
Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel watches the second half of Sunday's AFC title game at Kansas City. The Chiefs won to deny the Titans a trip to the Super Bowl and a sweep of the top three seeds in the AFC postseason. / AP photo by Charlie Riedel"I feel like our backs were against the wall the whole season," said Henry, who finished with 19 carries for 69 yards and a touchdown. "We kept on fighting and kept on believing in each other. I think it speaks volumes about the team we have. We just came up short."
Indeed, the Titans were just 5-5 after they beat the visiting Chiefs 35-32 on Nov. 10. They proceeded to lean heavily on Henry down the stretch, and they won six of their next eight games - the victory against Kansas City was the start of a four-game streak - to secure the franchise's sixth berth in an AFL or AFC championship game and its first since 2002.
Their route as a wild-card team took them on the road against the Patriots, who won their sixth Super Bowl title a year ago, and the Ravens, who had the best record in the NFL during the regular season - yet they even managed to clear those hurdles with ease. They turned away Tom Brady, then shut down Lamar Jackson.
They couldn't pull off one more upset in Arrowhead Stadium, though. They couldn't finish off a run to what would have been their first Super Bowl in two decades.
"I felt like we got off to the start that we wanted," second-year Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. "But I think when you play teams like this or teams that are as good as the Chiefs, as explosive as they are, we knew they were going to make a run."
Henry carried three times on an opening drive that netted Tennessee (11-8) a field goal, then capped their next drive by taking a direct snap and waltzing over the left side into the end zone. Henry added 29 rushing yards on the Titans' third series, a churning 75-yard march that consumed more than nine minutes of game clock and kept Kansas City's potent offense off the field.
By the time big offensive lineman Dennis Kelly grabbed a touchdown pass, the Titans had taken a 17-7 lead and the raucous environment of Arrowhead - which was so energized a week earlier, when Kansas City scored 41 straight points to rally past the Houston Texans - was about as quiet as a church on a Sunday afternoon.
That's when the Chiefs (14-4) caught fire. It's also when everything went downhill for Tennessee.
Mahomes finished a quick scoring drive with a touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill, starting a run of 28 consecutive points to rival their surge in the divisional round. Then the Chiefs stuffed Henry twice on the next drive when the Titans seemed to be trying to get to halftime, with Kansas City getting the ball back at the 2-minute warning. With 11 seconds left in the half, their star quarterback tiptoed down the sideline for a 27-yard touchdown run that completely deflated the visitors.
"They were playing a little double-coverage, they were doubling everybody we covered and it just opened up," Mahomes said. "I just found a way to get into the end zone."
Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill scrambles during the second half of the AFC title game Sunday at Kansas City. / AP photo by Charlie NeibergallYes, the Titans managed to force a punt after kicking off to the Chiefs to start the second quarter, but they failed to move the ball and had to punt it right back. All the momentum shifted to the Chiefs, who scored on their next two possessions to take a 35-17 lead in the fourth quarter.
That made Henry a nonfactor as the Titans tried to mount a desperate comeback.
"He's a heck of a player. He's strong," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. "I'm proud of our guys. They were on a mission to take care of that. For them to be able to do that, my hat goes off to them. He's a heck of a player - tough, strong, fast. You can't let him get a crack there, because he's either going to run you over or run past you."
Now the Chiefs are preparing for a two-week Super Bowl party 50 years in the making.
The Titans are left remembering a two-month dream.
"I'll definitely shed a couple of tears," Henry said, "just because I love my teammates. I love playing football, I love competing and I love my teammates. Those guys helped me get through a lot."