The Arrowhead Pride staff makes their picks and predictions for the 2018 NFL playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans.
Find more Wild Card picks here.
Here’s who we have...
Titans 16 Chiefs 24
I’m confident the Chiefs can hold the Titans to 16 points. I think it’s likely the offense does it’s part but I worry more about them than the defense. -Joel Thorman
Titans 16 Chiefs 30
It’s been quietly lost in the shuffle of the last few days in all the Patrick Mahomes hype that the Chiefs closed the season winning four games in a row and are playing their most balanced football of the year. The Titans don’t have the horses to hang with this team unless they self-implode, and I think they got that out of the way a month and a half ago. -Seth Keysor
Titans 17 Chiefs 33
I think this is a decent matchup for the Chiefs. Yes, Tennessee can run the ball and stop the run, but in recent weeks so can Kansas City. The Chiefs have the better passing offense overall, the better QB, WR, RB, coaching staff, etc. Generally, if you have the superior QB and HC, you win the game. That said, (and because I like to contradict myself) I don’t think the matchup matters. This may sound simplistic, but it’s true: if the Chiefs play well, they’ll win. That’s true this week, and it might even be true next week. It doesn’t matter (as much) who the opponent is. It’s about the Chiefs doing what they do. If they execute, they win.
For this week, I’ll predict they do execute, and they dispatch the Titans without too much trouble. The Chiefs will hit on some big plays, get a lead, and never look back. I’m not taking the Titans lightly, they are a good team, or they wouldn’t be here. But the fact is that the Chiefs are the better team, and we should expect them to assert themselves. Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce on offense, Marcus Peters and Justin Houston on defense are the difference makers. They are reasonably healthy and have some momentum. No excuses. Fear no Titan. Attack them all. -Matt Stagner
Titans 17 Chiefs 28
This is a wild card matchup of two teams entering the playoffs with very different vibes.
With the Kansas City Chiefs having been to the playoffs three times in the last four years, anything but an AFC Championship run would be regarded as a failure. The Titans, who haven’t been to the playoffs since 2008 before this game, have already achieved the success they were looking for this season.
The Chiefs also enter the playoffs on a four-game winning streak, while the Titans have lost three of their last four. And there are just too many offensive weapons for Tennessee’s young secondary to deal with. I think the three-headed-monster of Kareem Hunt, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill delivers and the Chiefs defense does enough to curb Marcus Mariota, even if he did look like his old self last week. -Pete Sweeney
Titans 21 Chiefs 27
I have absolutely zero confidence in this game, and there’s really no great reason why. The Titans are six days removed from a game in which they had to play to get in. The Chiefs rested their starters, much to the delight of the city, for obvious reasons I don’t need to write any more about. Dick LeBeau had immense success innovating zone blitzing schemes as the defensive coordinator of the Steelers, who still embody several characteristics of his defensive philosophy. Get my drift there?
I say despite their best efforts to lose, the Chiefs squeak one out. They’re the better team, at home, healthier. They respond to a poor performance this week to play some of their best football of the season in New England or Pittsburgh. It’s pessimistic optimism. -Kent Swanson
Titans 21 Chiefs 27
This game will be close, and it will be a battle for both sides. I don’t think the Chiefs will blow this Titans team out, and if the Chiefs start out slowly and can’t get anything going on offense then they will lose in embarrassing fashion. BUT, that’s not going to happen because the Chiefs will score a TD on their opening drive. The Chiefs defense is going to bottle up Derrick Henry and force some turnovers. Usually I don’t like to use turnovers as discussion pieces in the playoffs, but the Titans have been terrible taking care of the ball. If the Chiefs lose this game the responsibility should fall directly on Andy Reid’s shoulders because the cause of a loss would be a scheme problem, not a talent problem. -Gary McKenzie