By Brandon Simmons
Chiefs Complete Another “Comeback”
Once again, the Kansas City Chiefs feel down early and staged another 2nd quarter comeback to win the game. The Chiefs bet the Tennessee Titans 35-17 after suffering a 17-7 deficit late in the 1st quarter. The Titans were coming in behind the strength of running back Derrick Henry, who had 377 rushing yards in the postseason entering today’s matchup but was not able to be as dominant running the ball today.
The Kansas City Chiefs saw themselves overcoming another early deficit by going on a consecutive scoring streak. The Chiefs defense had to deal with the Titans coming out on a balanced offensive attack. While Tennessee did predictably go with Henry early on, quarterback Ryan Tannehill stepped into the passing role a little bit more than the previous 2 games, even throwing it to wide receiver Adam Humphries to convert a 4th and 2. After the Titans took a 10-0 lead in the first, the Chiefs found their rhythm on offense on the next drive and cut the score to 10-7. However, Tennessee opened the 2nd quarter with a huge time-consuming drive to put the score up 17-7. This is when Kansas City started storming back. On the ensuing drive, Chiefs QB Pat Mahomes hit his playmakers, including wide receiver Tyreek Hill on a 20 yard touchdown strike, which made the score 17-14. KC gets another stop before the 2 min warning then proceeds to score for a 27 yard TD run by Mahomes on the following drive. After the Chiefs stop the Titans in the 3rd quarter, they get the ball back and implement the run with running back Damien Williams, who finished the drive a 3yd rushing TD to go up 28-17, and the team coasts to a 35-17 score before the Titans score late to make it 35-24.
Once the Chiefs were able to stop the run with Henry, everything else fell into place. Derrick Henry had 66 yards in the first half and was looking to have a pretty big game. However, Kansas City made 2 stops in this game that changed the course of how it would play out: the Titans possession before the 2 minute warning in the first half and the Titans’ first possession in the 3rd quarter. After being stopped on the latter, they did not go back to Henry in the run game anymore; instead, they tried to rely on the arm of Tannehill late in the game, which has not been apart of their winning formula in the past 2 playoff games. Ironically, they should have been a little more aggressive on that drive before the 2 minute warning and gave themselves a chance to extend the lead, whether with a touchdown or at least a field goal. That still affords you the opportunity to use your best player in Henry. However, it allowed Kansas City to go about its usual explosive self and hit their arsenal of speedy receivers. Hill had his 2 touchdowns while wide receiver Sammy Watkins caught some key plays, including the go-ahead TD in the 4th quarter. Basically, the Chiefs offense got to be themselves in spite of deficits they were put in and were still careful enough with the football to hold the lead for the win.
The Niners Brought the Smack Back to the Pack
The Green Bay Packers had a rough outing in their Week 12 game against the San Francisco 49ers; Sunday’s NFC title game may have proven to be just as bad. The 49ers throttled the Packers 37-20 at home in a game that might have established them as a heavy favorite to win the Super Bowl. The Packers scored a lot more points this time around, but the frustrations caused by San Francisco still remined.
It was essentially the same game plan for Sunday’s win as it has been most of the year: run the ball and beat up the quarterback. The 49ers struck first with a 36 yard touchdown run by running back Raheem Mostert. When the defense took the field, Niners defensive end Nick Bosa sacked Packers QB Aaron Rodgers on 3rd down. San Francisco scores a field goal and the defense gets another sack. They do the same thing after another TD run by Mostert, making Rodgers’ first half summarized into 3 sacks and a pick. Green Bay gets a touchdown in the 3rd quarter, but the 49ers run the ball with Mostert and wide receiver Deebo Samuel, including a 32 yard reverse play for the latter. This drive sets up the 22 yard TD run by Mostert which puts the Niners up at 34-7. The key to this game was the defense’s ability to knock the Packers offense out of rhythm early. They were basically non-existent in that first half and could not get anything to happen for them until the 3rd quarter. This afforded the 49ers an opportunity to rely on their strength of running the football and taking down the quarterback. They executed this perfectly in the first half and it took Green Bay out of the game for the rest of the way. Sure, the Packers had a couple of scores in the 2nd half, but they were far in between drives since the 49ers ran the ball extensively to chew up clock. Mostert’s 220 yards rushing gave a cushion for Niners QB Jimmy Garoppolo to throw 6/8 for 77 yards. Just like Tannehill, Garoppolo has proven to be a QB who can put up good numbers, but San Francisco did not want him to get in a dueling match with Aaron Rodgers, when the best part of their offense is gaining yards on the ground as opposed to the air.