With the Nashville Predators returning to their old tradition of perennial first-round exits, it may seem faint praise to laud the Titans for their shock run to the AFC Championship. After all, what competition did the Two-Toners really have? But the fact is, short of actually making it to the Super Bowl, we couldn’t have asked for a more thrilling and downright fun postseason from Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, et al. Tannethrill’s takeover of quarterbacking duties from Marcus Mariota sparked a complete turnaround for the then-woebegone team, sneaking them into the playoffs, where they had to go on the road to face the New England Patriots — only the most successful team of the past 20 years. But timely defensive stops, precision passing and oh-so-much Derrick Henry (182 yards on the day ... 182!) stunned the Evil Empire. The Titans’ secret weapon — punter Brett Kern — was a secret no more. A critical late-game boomer went 58 yards and took an astounding 10 seconds off the clock, leading directly to the most delicious ending possible: Tom Brady, throwing his last pass at a Pat, was intercepted for a touchdown by Logan Ryan. The win sent the Tites back on the road, this time to face old foe Baltimore, who boasted the league’s best record and whose safety Earl Thomas intimated that Henry had such a big day because the Pats didn’t want to tackle him. Henry went for 195 yards (including a 27-yarder in which he stiff-armed Thomas himself and used him as a blocker) — and threw a touchdown pass to boot. (During a post-game interview, Henry shouted what sounded like “Eat shit, Earl!” at the passing Raven.) By this point, the city was awash in various cerulean shades and previously uninterested observers were wearing King Henry shirts and talking about Arthur Smith’s upbeat offense and A.J. Brown’s fiery skills. Sure, the team lost on the road to eventual Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game — but as they say, we weren’t sad it was over, we were happy it happened. J.R. LIND
Best Playoff Run
Tennessee Titans
Photo: Donald Page
