SI

Titans Use Doinked Field Goal to Clinch AFC South Championship

Sam Sloman made a 37-yard field goal on the final play of the game to clinch the Titans' first division title since 2008.

Nick Selbe

Two days ago, Titans kicker Sam Sloman wasn't even on the active roster. Now, he's a Tennessee hero.

Sloman's game-winning 37-yard field goal on Sunday clanged off the right upright and in to seal a thrilling 41-38 win over the Texans. The victory clinched the AFC South title for Tennessee, the franchise's first division crown since 2008.

A seventh-round pick by the Rams out of Miami of Ohio, Sloman was 8-for-11 on field goals and 18-for-21 in extra point attempts for Los Angeles before getting cut from the team in October. The Titans signed him to their practice squad in November, then activated him before Sunday's game after Stephen Gostkowski was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Sloman's heroics were set up by a 52-yard pass from Ryan Tannehill to A.J. Brown that gave Tennessee the ball at the Texans' 23-yard line with 18 seconds to play. That came after Houston tied the game on a 51-yard field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn.

Brown finished the game with 151 yards on 10 catches and one touchdown.

The wild ending overshadowed another stellar performance from Derrick Henry, who rushed for 250 yards on 34 carries and two scores to become the eighth player in league history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season. Henry has led the league in rushing yards in each of the last two seasons, becoming the first player to accomplish that feat since LaDainian Tomlinson did it in 2006 and 2007.

After winning the division in 2008, the Titans missed the postseason in each of the next eight seasons before snapping the drought in 2017. Tennessee had now made the playoffs in three of the last four years.

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Nick Selbe
NICK SELBE

Nick Selbe is a programming editor at Sports Illustrated who frequently writes about baseball and college sports. Before joining SI in March 2020 as a breaking/trending news writer, he worked for MLB Advanced Media, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. Selbe received a bachelor's in communication from the University of Southern California.

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