Chiefs vs. Titans: Major storylines for the AFC Championship

The Chiefs might be coming off one of the biggest wins in franchise history, but their upcoming opponent presents a stiff challenge. What should fans know?

I’ll be honest, I was shell-shocked in the first quarter of the Chiefs-Texans game. Going into the matchup, it was clear the Kansas City Chiefs were the better team. It was so clear that literally nobody was picking Houston to win. The national analysts weren’t and the local analysts weren’t. Even Vegas was giving the Texans virtually no chance, with the spread growing to 10 points by Sunday. All of this made me a little uneasy, but it was still out of the realm of possibility that the Chiefs would lose.

That’s why the first quarter was such a shock for me, and I’m sure for most of the older and more realistic fans in Chiefs Kingdom. We have endured years of this team and the franchise under-performing. With what seemed like the most attainable Super Bowl appearance the team could have asked for, they came out unprepared and unfocused to seize the opportunity.

Luckily for the team and fans, there were a number of people on that Chiefs sideline who didn’t lose any of their composure. Much has already been made of how Patrick Mahomes responded, throwing for 327 yards and five touchdowns and adding 53 yards on the ground. What was more impressive to me than his production was his actual emotional leadership.

The camera panned to the sideline a few times in that first quarter when the offense was off the field. What you didn’t see was a quarterback who was discouraged, sitting off to the side by himself. You saw a quarterback who was firing at his teammates, fueling their mind for what their bodies needed to do on the field. That’s rare, especially for someone so young. As pivotal as some of the plays on the field were, those speeches were probably more important.

What probably won’t get as much coverage or analysis were the actions of Andy Reid. Reid receives far more criticism when the team falters than he should, and far less credit when the team succeeds. The truth of the matter is that Reid isn’t just a brilliant football mind, he’s a brilliant leader.

Not enough is made of the fact that Reid dragged a bottom-feeding franchise from the depths in just a few short months. He established a team and pipeline that was a quarterback away from being elite, and then drafted and groomed that quarterback masterfully. It’s hard to say how much he has meant to this franchise.

In the face of what would have been his most embarrassing defeat as a coach, Reid never once lost his composure and arguably called one of his most brilliant games as the head coach of the Chiefs.

There are obviously so many more players and coaches who deserve mentioning, so please don’t take this as a slight to any of them, but there’s no time to revel on accomplishments. The Chiefs face a very hot Tennessee Titans team on Sunday, in one of the most pivotal games in franchise history. What are the important storylines headed into the game?