Mahomes Solves Titans, Leads Chiefs Comeback in 20-17 OT Victory

With an iron grip, the Tennessee Titans clung to a one-possession lead in the second half Sunday night, but a team can only give Patrick Mahomes so many chances to steal away a win. On the Kansas City Chiefs' seventh consecutive possession trailing by a single score, Mahomes threw and ran his way down the field to tie the game and set up a conclusion everyone could see a mile away: an overtime march down the field for a field goal. Four plays later, the Titans' drive failed, and K.C. scored the 20-17 win, the fifth career OT win of Mahomes' career.

The win didn't come without plenty of trial and error from the Chiefs (6-2), as the Tennessee defense clung to its narrow lead for dear life. After the Titans took a 14-9 lead with five minutes left in the first half, K.C. had six straight possessions end in a punt, interception, or missed field goal, before the team finally found a way to the end zone.

Even that way didn't come without a couple of big-time plays from the quarterback, albeit not in the way that was expected. Mahomes had a 20-yard run on 3rd and 17 to keep the team's tying drive going and then ran it in for a two-point conversion to tie it after a touchdown pass to Jerick McKinnon. Their overtime drive also included some heroics, first on big catches from tight ends Noah Gray and Travis Kelce and then on a fourth down conversion from Mahomes to JuJu Smith-Schuster, before K.C. settled for a 28-yard field goal from Harrison Butker.

While it denied the Chiefs' offense a chance to end the game with a touchdown, perhaps more fittingly, it allowed the team's defense to ice away the victory, given that the effort from that unit was what allowed K.C. to tie the game in the first place. After the Titans took a 17-9 lead with a field goal, Kansas City's defense forced five consecutive Tennessee punts to end regulation, all but one of those drives a three-and-out.

The overtime drive ended in the same fashion. K.C. stalled a Derrick Henry run, sacked Malik Willis twice, and broke up a pass on fourth down to clinch the victory.

The win ended the regular season success the Titans had found over Mahomes and the Chiefs. Tennessee had won each of its two contests against the superstar QB since he took over as the team's starter, though K.C. won their lone postseason meeting in the 2020 AFC Championship Game, going on to win the Super Bowl.

It also ended a five-game winning streak for the Titans, built upon King Henry's back. Henry had run for over 100 yards four consecutive games, and Sunday made it the second five-game streak over the century mark in his career. Until meeting K.C., the Titans had been unbeaten during that stretch, rebounding from a 1-2 start to lead the AFC South.

Henry's performances had taken on increased importance the last two weeks, as Tennessee played without starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill, with the rookie third-rounder Willis handling the snaps. The Titans threw it just 10 times in a Week 8 win over Houston and were just above that mark before the final couple of possessions of Week 9, finishing with only 80 yards and five completions across 16 attempts.

Henry finished with 115 yards on 17 carries, scoring Tennessee's only two touchdowns. But even he was slowed to a stop as Kansas City's defense gave Mahomes a chance to pull the Chiefs back into the game. Henry, who had 92 yards in the first half, gained only 23 on eight carries in the second half and overtime.

The ground-and-pound style of the Titans acted as the polar opposite of K.C., which aired it out 68 times as opposed to just 19 carries. Mahomes completed 43 of those for 446 yards and a touchdown, with Kelce and Smith-Schuster catching 10 passes each.

The win moves the Chiefs to 6-2 this season, one game ahead of the L.A. Chargers in the AFC West. Tennessee falls to 5-3 but retains a two-game lead in the AFC South.