The Tennessee Titans’ enormous 45-26 victory against the Indianapolis Colts allowed them to swipe the number one slot in the AFC South and improve their playoff standings immensely.
With the Titans’ hot streak as scorching as ever, this year’s playoff picture is turning out to be very much in their favor. Week 12’s massive victory sent Tennessee into being third place overall in the AFC. In a tie-break situation, the Titans would win over Buffalo who sits right on their heels at fourth place.
Unless the Titans lose both of their upcoming divisional matchups against the Texans and the Jaguars, the AFC South will continue to stay under the control of Tennessee. Even if Indianapolis wins all three of their remaining divisional matches, they will still be one game behind Tennessee in the event that the Titans win out against Houston and Jacksonville.
In the case that the Titans do not end up winning their division, the wild card race looks encouraging for them, too.
After defeating the Jaguars, the Browns moved up to the number five slot in the AFC playoff picture. As of this week, however, Tennessee would still win a tiebreaker based on in-conference win percentage. That being said, next week’s game against Cleveland will still be an important one for the Titans to win. A victory against Baker Mayfield and company will help to secure a wild card insurance policy if the Titans end up losing the AFC South.
AFC Playoff Picture – Titans Soar to 3rd Place
No. 1 Pittsburgh Steelers (10-0): 3-0 in the AFC North. 7-0 in conference play. Week 7 head-to-head advantage over the Titans.
No. 2 Kansas City Chiefs (10-1): 3-1 in the AFC West. 8-1 in conference play.
No. 3 Tennessee Titans (8-3): 3-1 in AFC South. 6-3 in conference play. Own tiebreaker over the Bills based on win percentage in head-to-head games.
No. 4 Buffalo Bills (8-3): 4-0 in the AFC East. 6-2 in conference play.
No. 5 Cleveland Browns (8-3): 2-2 in AFC North. 5-3 in conference play.
No. 6 Miami Dolphins (7-4): 2-2 in AFC East. 4-3 in conference play. Owns tiebreaker over the Colts based on best conference game win percentage.
No. 7 Indianapolis Colts (7-4): 1-2 in the AFC South. 3-4 in conference play.
In the Hunt
No. 8 Baltimore Ravens (6-4): 2-1 in AFC North. 4-4 in conference play.
No. 9 Las Vegas Raiders (6-5): 3-1 in AFC West. 4-3 in conference play.
Moving Forward
After two consecutive big-time wins, it is safe to say that the Titans have reached a turning point in the season. Derrick Henry is only getting better as the year progresses, and his 178 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns this week prove that the King has no intention of slowing down. With momentum as strong as this, it is truly a great time to be a Titans fan.
Featured Image: Trevor Ruszkowski – USA Today Sports.
