We turn to the ultimate analyst, Madden 20, once again, as we ask who wins between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tennessee Titans.
Last week, Madden 20 predicted a heartbreaking loss for the Kansas City Chiefs in their week 9 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. In reality, the Chiefs won a nail-biter at home, capped off by Harrison Butker‘s game-winning field goal.
Despite hailing Madden 20 as a genius of analysis and predictions expert, Madden fell well short of our expectations with his innaccurate predictions for next week. Hopefully, the great video game can redeem itself for Week 10 in predicting the Kansas City Chiefs matchup against the Tennessee Titans.
Madden predicted another close games for this week’s matchup, with the game coming down to the closing seconds of the game. Both defenses played strong: five turnovers (Chiefs grabbed 2 INTs, Titans grabbed 1 INT and a fumble), 7 sacks (6 for the Chiefs, 1 for the Titans), and tons of TFL (the game does not track these effectively).
But the real surprise in this matchup was the absolute lights out QB battle. Ryan Tannehill started for the Tennessee Titans and put up numbers that reminded why he started for many seasons. Going 41/58 for 360 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs, Ryan Tannehill really carried the Titans through this game. His favorite target, TE Jonnu Smith, caught 159 of those passing yard and found holes in the predominantly zone defense of the Chiefs in this sim.
The Titans also committed to the ground game, with Derrick Henry picking up 97 yards on the ground. Granted, it took 27 carries (3.5 YPC), but by sticking to the ground game, the Titans were able to command the time of possession battle for a large portion of the game. Ultimately, that should have made this an easy win for the Titans, until you remember who sits on the other side of the ball: Patrick Mahomes.
Returning from injury, Mahomes reminded the league what he was worth in the sim, absolutely lighting up the field with 39/53 for 551 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Mahomes found every hole in the defense, finding Travis Kelce for 205 yards and Tyreeek Hill for 180 yards. If Hill did not give up two fumbles, this offense would have kept the Titans out of the game completely.
But ultimately those fumbles hurt the Chiefs, giving the Titans a touchdown on each of the drives that followed. Mahomes INT also cost the Chiefs points, but instead, in form of a pick six in the last 60 seconds of the game.
Those turnovers (and a complete lack of a running game) ultimately cost the Chiefs, with Madden picking the Titans to win a 33-25 game at home. The Chiefs dropped this one nearly the same way that they lost the Madden sim last week: a last minute turnover turned points by the defense cuts the game winning drive short.
On second thought, hopefully Madden is wrong this week as well.