Chiefs matchup with Tennessee may be toughest of final stretch

The Kansas City Chiefs are in the driver’s seat in the AFC West with three games to play in the regular season.

They’re also in control of the AFC’s No. 2 seed for the moment. Should they win out, they’d return to the postseason with a first-round bye and face one of the lowest conference seeds on their home turf in the divisional round.

Though, running the table could be quite the challenge with a tough Tennessee Titans team coming to Arrowhead Stadium this weekend. That young group, led by budding star Marcus Mariota, has won two straight and is currently sitting atop the AFC South. I doubt very seriously that anyone in Chiefs Kingdom had this game circled as a pivotal matchup that could have serious implications on Kansas City’s postseason aspirations, but here we are.

It doesn’t help that the game sets up as a classic trap game. By all accounts, the Chiefs are the better football team — they opened the week as a six-point favorite over Tennessee. Titans head coach Mike Mularkey is in just his second season and boasts one of the ten youngest teams (9th-lowest average age) in the league. After four-straight losing seasons, Tennessee is 7-6 and are winners of three of their last five games.

They’re certainly no conference juggernaut, but have still logged wins over the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers. All four of those teams are in the thick of their respective conference’s playoff races. Put simply, the Titans are dangerous.