I do not believe the Chiefs vs Titans is a trap game. In my opinion the Chiefs should walk away with a two score win.
I believe the Tennessee Titans are a misleading 5-2. The five wins that the Titans have over the year have come against teams that are at or below 500. Their wins come against the Colts twice, Raiders, Commanders and Cardinals.
While teams have no control over who they face, during the season the Titans have not shown enough to be considered a top team. Especially one that can play on the same stage as the other division leaders in the AFC like the Chiefs, Bills and Ravens.
The best example of this is the lack of offense that the Titans have put on the field this year. Ryan Tannehill has six touchdowns and three interceptions. He has barely passed 1,000 yards.
Tannehill did miss last game and their rookie quarterback Malik Willis stepped in. Without sugar coating anything, Willis had a very bad game. He had 61 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. This was against the Houston Texans.
The Titans offense seems to be fully reliant on a strong performance from Derrick Henry. Over the last few matchups against the Chiefs, Henry has averaged 114 yards. This stat is somewhat misleading due to the fact that the average is a combination of big games with bad ones.
Recently however, the Chiefs have been able to lock him down and prevent him from running up and down the field. The Chiefs defense is ranked top five in rushing defense and should continue to slow Henry down. Nick Bolton is built to stop Henry, he played a significant role in previous matchups against the Titans, and will continue to do so.
The Chiefs also don’t have to worry about any significant pass catchers on the outside like that in the past. Robert Woods is their number one receiver since they traded A.J. Brown in the offseason. Woods has not come close to the level of player he was for the LA Rams before he was injured.
Their second best wide receiver has the fourth most receiving yards on the team. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has 136 yards on the season and has less yards than two running backs on the team. This means Kansas City is able to keep more players in the box to help the run defense.
This team does not have enough firepower to keep up with the Chiefs offense, especially if the Chiefs come out firing on all cylinders.
All of this gets compounded as the Chiefs are coming off of their bye week. Andy Reid is a stellar 20-3 over his career coming off of the bye week. Reid is the best midseason adjusting coach in the league. Not only is this game stacked against the Titans to begin with, but the Chiefs then get the advantage of extra preparation time, something that Reid has taken advantage of for over two decades.
The Titans are an injured team. Throughout the week they have had their starting safety Amini Hooker out with a shoulder injury. Starting and key rotational pieces Jeffery Simmons and Naguan Jones have not practiced this week. Ryan Tannehill was limited on Wednesday and did not practice on Thursday due to an ankle injury.
On the flip side the Chiefs are an extremely healthy team. The only player that did not practice on Thursday is Jody Fortson who was reported to have a quad injury and an illness. Everyone else on the 53 man roster was a full participant in practice.
Overall, while this game may seem as a matchup between two of the best AFC teams, I do not see the Titans stacking up against the Chiefs.
