Titans Set Sights Where Few Nine-Win Teams Go

A win Saturday at Baltimore will lead to a highly unusual conference championship game appearance

They did something Saturday that doesn’t happen often. The Tennessee Titans went to New England and defeated the Patriots in a playoff game.

That 20-13 wild card victory has presented them with an opportunity for another rare accomplishment.

In fact, if they win at Baltimore this Saturday, they will do something that never has been done. Not since 2002, when the NFL expanded and realigned into eight divisions, at least.

Over the past 17 seasons, only two teams that won fewer than 10 games during the regular season made it to the conference championship games in the postseason. Neither was the No. 6 seed in their respective conference, as the Titans are this year.

“Every week we know it’s a bigger challenge,” center Ben Jones said following Saturday’s contest. “We have to go to another great team next week and take care of business on the road again. [The Baltimore Ravens] have a great team. They have done it week-in and week-out, but we have to go up there and take care of business next week.”

Coach Mike Vrabel and the players have clung tight to the philosophy that what happened during the 17 weeks of the regular season is meaningless as long as a team has the opportunity to play beyond that point. What matters most, they have said often in recent days and weeks, is that you play your best when the playoffs start.

Maybe. That does not change the fact that nine-win teams don’t typically get far at this time of year.

Tennessee is one of 31 teams since realignment to earn a spot in the postseason with a record of 9-7 or worse. Seventeen won one playoff contest, including the 2017 Titans, who topped Kansas City in the wild card round before they were eliminated with a loss at New England.

Only two got a second win. The 2009 New York Jets were the AFC’s No. 5 seed after a 9-7 regular season but defeated Cincinnati and San Diego to reach the AFC Championship, where Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts eliminated them. The 2011 New York Giants won the NFC East at 9-7, which gave them the right to host their first playoff game. From there, they pulled off an improbable run that ended with a victory in Super Bowl XLVI.

“I think through the course of the year, we learned a lot of tough, valuable lessons that allowed us to get into the postseason and be effective,” linebacker Wesley Woodyard said. “We are a second-round playoff team and the sky is the limit for us. We just have to take advantage of every opportunity we get.”

In order to go where no 9-7, No. 6 seed ever had, Tennessee will have to beat the team that was unquestionably the best during the course of the regular season.

Baltimore was the only club to win 14 games in 2019. That was at least two more than any other AFC franchise and one better than the top teams in the NFC.

The Ravens led the league in scoring, in rushing offense and in time of possession. They have the presumptive MVP, quarterback Lamar Jackson who set an NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback (1,206). They have not lost a game since September and eight of their last 10 victories have been by two touchdowns or more.

“You want to play against the best,” guard Rodger Saffold said. “And if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. Right now, those guys are the best. AFC, NFC, it doesn’t matter. This is a great challenge for us and that is a great team.”

At least it was a great team during the regular season.