KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Tennessee Titans dominated the second half to rally from a double-digit deficit to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 22-21 in their AFC wild card playoff round game at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday.
Marcus Mariota threw for two touchdowns in the second half, including one of his TD passes to himself, and Tennessee scored 19 unanswered points after halftime to stunned the Chiefs at home.
“Special, special,” Mariota said. “I’m a part of a great team. I’m a part of a group of guys that really just believe in each other.
“And, it’s something special and I’m look forward to playing next week.”
The Titans fell behind 14-0 after the first quarter and trailed 21-3 at the break.
However, Mariota and Co. rallied to overcome Kansas City 22-21 for their first playoff win in 14 years.
Derrick Henry ran for a career-high 156 yards on 23 carried with one touchdown and Mariota threw for 205 yards and two scores, including the 22-yard go-ahead scoring pass to Eric Decker with just over six minutes remaining.
“Grit. It’s just grit,” Henry said of the hard-fought comeback. “You’ve got to believe in each other, man.
“We were down like this last year and we came back. We told them we’ve got 30 minutes left, all we’ve got to do is play our game, execute the plays and everything will take care of itself.”
Alex Smith went 24 of 33 for 264 yards and a touchdown for the Chiefs, who never looked the same after losing tight end Travis Kelce, who was forced to leave with a concussion in the first half.
Kelce caught four passes for 66 yards and a touchdown before he sustained a concussion on a hard blow from Titans’ Johnathan Cyprien in the closing moment of the first half.
The Tennessee Titans advanced to the divisional round and will face either the No. 1 seed New England Patriots or the No. 2 seed Pittsburgh Steelers.
