How the Tennessee Titans gambled, failed and brilliantly managed to save their season
On a Sunday filled with big decisions, bigger consequences and plays both season-saving and season-ending, the greatest call of all came from Tennessee Titans coach Mike Mularkey, who opted to go for a two-point conversion rather than a game-tying extra point late in the game to beat the AFC West-leading Kansas City Chiefs. It was brash, bold and a failure. But it ended up not mattering as the Chiefs were forced to punt with that one-point lead and the Titans moved 40 yards in 1:07 to kick a game-winning field goal as time expired. And therein lies the genius of Mularkey's earlier decision.
How? Let's start at the beginning.
The Titans, co-leaders of the jammed-up AFC South, were trailing for all but the opening three minutes of their massive showdown with the Chiefs in a frigid Arrowhead Stadium. For much of the day, Marcus Mariota and Co. were down two scores. So when they scored a touchdown to pull within one point with 3:12 remaining, it seemed like a natural that Tennessee, thankful for its new lease on football life, would kick the extra point and go to overtime. Mularkey didn't. He recognized an opportunity and ordered up a go-ahead two-point conversion.
It was obviously a risky move but one that made sense. The Titans had the Chiefs defense on the ropes, having held the ball for much of the fourth quarter. They were playing on the road in a game that started with a record-low temperature (just above zero) and had bone-chilling winds throughout. They're not looking good on tiebreakers in a division that has three teams within a game of the lead. With just two games left after Sunday, a loss would have left Tennessee's fate in the hands of others. Going for the win firmly put the Titans' destiny in their own control.
The problem, as usual in such circumstances (which seem to be increasing in a coaching fraternity that sees more of its ranks gambling this year), was the play call, not the decision. Tennessee rolled out Mariota and thus he had no room to do anything when Kansas City blanketed its coverage. The conversion failed. The game seemed over. Mularkey would be ripped for putting his team's destiny on one play from the 2-yard line. And the Texans would be in the driver's seat for a division title, leading to at least one unwatchable game on wild-card weekend. Or so we thought.
Here's why Mularkey's decision was so clever: There was still a lot of time left on the clock -- way too much time for the term "game-winning two-point conversion" to be reliably applied. This was a day when the Packers faced a 3rd-and-11 on their own 26 with 31 seconds left and no timeouts and still won the game. It doesn't matter where you were playing, what lay down the road or that the mercury was hovering around absolute zero -- 3 minutes is more than enough time to get into field-goal range. So, instead of going for two and having it be an absolute win-or-lose decision (like the Eagles had against the Ravens -- they failed too), the two-point decision was actually one that brought a number of scenarios.
1. Kick the extra point. First, hope it goes in -- never a guarantee. Then, try and hold the Chiefs, who had two timeouts, from moving 40ish yards in just over three minutes. Their offense is hardly high-powered, but with that much time Alex Smith could have dinked-and-dunked his way down the field without even breaking a sweat (that would have frozen solid on his forehead, but you get the idea). An extra point didn't mean overtime -- not at all. It meant a temporary tie.
2. Successfully convert two-point conversion. It's the same scenario as above, except instead of having overtime be the reward for stopping the Chiefs, a victory would have been on the other side. One downside: Kansas City gets an extra play in this scenario as fourth downs would be in play. With the lead, that's an acceptable one.
3. Fail to convert the two-pointer. This is what happened, and this is where the sneaky brilliance comes in.
Giving the ball back to Kansas City down one-point lead basically ensured one thing: The Chiefs, led by the most conservative head coach of his generation, were playing with a lead, which in Andy Reid-land is a whole lot different than playing with a tie or from behind. When Reid has a lead, he runs down the clock. And when he has a lead and the only way the opponent can stop the clock is with the two-minute warning, a play out of bounds or an incomplete pass, he runs it up the middle three straight times. It's not quite clockwork, but it's close enough.
Reid played right into the Titans' hands. His predictable play calling helped the defense make a stop and Tennessee got the ball back with 1:07 remaining. From there, Kansas City's prevent offense turned into a prevent defense and the Tennessee Titans had suddenly fallen upward, turning a disastrous, failed two-point conversion into a stunning, season-saving come-from-behind victory.
Mike Mularkey gambled. Andy Reid was showing his cards.
