The Sports Xchange
Dec 18, 2016
KANSAS CITY, Mo -- The Kansas City Chiefs have made a habit of winning games in the final moments during the 2016 season. On Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, they had the tables turned on them.
Ryan Succop made a last-second 53-yard field goal and the Tennessee Titans pulled off a 19-17 upset of the Chiefs.
Under sunny skies and very frigid temperatures, the game's outcome was in doubt until the game's final play when Succop, returning to face the team that drafted him in 2010, made the winning field goal.
The Titans (8-6) had fought back in the game's final minutes, with a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Derrick Henry. Rather than kick the extra point for a tie, Titans coach Mike Mularkey decided to attempt a two-point conversion. Quarterback Marcus Mariota rolled right but was unable to get off a pass as the Kansas City pass rush knocked him to the ground. That left the Titans trailing by one point.
But the Tennessee defense did not allow Kansas City a first down, and the Chiefs were forced to punt the ball away. Without any timeouts, Mariota moved the Titans' offense into field-goal range in just over 60 seconds setting up the field goal.
Rookie sensation Tyreek Hill has scored in four different ways this season, and against Tennessee, he added another rushing touchdown, taking a handoff on the second offensive snap for the Chiefs and running untouched for a 68-yard score. Defensively, the Kansas City defense forced three turnovers by Tennessee.
The Titans controlled the game, especially their defense over the last three quarters of the game, making forward progress very tough for Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith and his offensive mates. After Hill's TD run, Smith scored on a 10-yard run near the end of the first quarter and gave Kansas City an early 14-0 lead.
But the Chiefs (10-4) produced only a field goal from that point on.
Early in the second quarter the Titans sliced the lead in half, as Henry scored on a 4-yard touchdown run at the end of a six-play, 87-yard drive.
The Chiefs came back and added a 34-yard field goal from Cairo Santos near the end of the first half for a 17-7 lead at intermission. Succop added a 39-yard field goal earlier in the fourth quarter.
NOTES: the Titans lost a pair of starters in their secondary in the first half, as CB Jason McCourty (chest) and S Da'Norris Searcy (concussion) did not return. ... The coldest pro football game in Kansas City was Jan. 7, 1996, in a divisional-round game in the AFC playoffs between the Chiefs and Indianapolis. That day it was minus-6 actual temperature, with a minus-15 wind-chill factor. ... The Chiefs are 6-1 at home this season and they have won 12 of their last 13 games inside Arrowhead Stadium. They host Denver on Christmas night. ... The Titans play the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Christmas Eve afternoon.