One of those teams are the AFC South Champion Tennessee Titans. The Titans had locked the division up in Week 17 after routing the Miami Dolphins. The same Dolphins then upset the New England Patriots in the final week. Miami went home via tie-breaker and the Titans ended up clinching the top seed in the AFC.
This is Tennessee’s second-consecutive season winning the AFC South, which is the first time the franchise accomplished this feat since joining the NFL.
Not bad for a team missing the best running back in the sport for the last nine games of their schedule.
Derrick Henry had 937 yards through eight games before fracturing his foot in Week 8 against the Indianapolis Colts. In that game, Henry had 68 yards on 28 carries, which ended his streak of consecutive 100-yard games at four.
Henry is one of the few exceptions in the history of the NFL of a Heisman Trophy winner turning into a bonafide superstar. Tennessee was 6-2 when the two-time and defending NFL rushing champion went down. They went 6-3 the rest of the way. Even with their best player on the sidelines, the Titans still finished with the sixth-best rushing offense in the NFL.
While Henry is what makes the Tennessee offense go, the Titans’ defense is the most under-the-radar story going into the playoffs. Tennessee gave up an average of 20.8 points-per-game, which was sixth-best in the league. Their 419 points was the lowest among the eight division winners. Only the Las Vegas Raiders (374) and Pittsburgh Steelers (343) scored fewer points for the 14 teams that qualified for the tournament.
Tennessee was 8-4 against AFC opponents, which was tied with the Cincinnati Bengals for best in the conference.
Henry was ready to go for the finale against the Houston Texans, a game where the Titans were up 21-0 at the half and held on for a 28-25 win. The decision by head coach Mike Vrabel to hold Henry out will pay off, as now there are two weeks of additional rest and conditioning for his return.
Tennessee will have a bye after the Wild Card weekend, before hosting either Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh or New England.
Pittsburgh is not getting past Kansas City and I don’t see Buffalo losing before the AFC Championship, regardless of the opponent. The Bengals and Raiders are two teams that overachieved in 2021 and we will not know really how good they are until the winner competes in next week’s divisional round.
The primary aspect working against Tennessee is the lack of competition in their Division. The Titans were the only team to qualify out of the AFC South, with the Colts missing out by not showing up against a 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars team. Green Bay has the same stance in the NFC, having the first-round bye, while also having clinched by several games over the Minnesota Vikings, another team who were eliminated in the closing weeks of the regular season.
Tennessee is in their best position to make the Super Bowl in the Mike Vrabel era. The last time the Titans had a legitimate shot at the Lombardi Trophy was the the greatest Super Bowl ever played, SB34 against the then-St. Louis Rams, where Kevin Dyson was tackled on the one yard line as time expired, which would have sent the game to overtime.
Vrabel is certainly not Jeff Fisher, having won at least nine games each of his first four seasons. His 41-24 (.631) record is the best among the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise for head coaches with at least two years at the helm.
Now he needs to improve upon that modest 2-2 record in the postseason.
-JC24