No team has bumfuzzled Chiefs’ Andy Reid like the Titans. He’s out to change that
The Tennessee Titans are the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs, but they are second to none among nemeses of Andy Reid-coached teams.
In 21 seasons, 14 in Philadelphia and seven in Kansas City, Reid’s teams have defeated other opponents multiple times — including the Eagles and the Chiefs when he coached for the other side.
Remember the Titans indeed, and now the 61-year-old Reid and his Chiefs face that career bugaboo in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium.
Given his overall record as a head coach in the NFL — 220 wins counting both the regular season and playoffs — Reid’s 1-8 lifetime mark against Tennessee almost seems like a fluke.
“Heck of a record, isn’t it?” Reid said.
Reid said he only recently learned of the mark when he was informed of it by a team communications official, in case it came up during the week leading up to the AFC Championship game.
“It’s got to be better on my end,” Reid said. “I have players who have won more games than I have against them. I’m just going to bank on them.”
The response was light-hearted. And when asked about Reid’s record against the Titans, Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel sounded offended.
“What was his record when trailing 24-0?” Vrabel said.
That was the deficit overcome by the Chiefs in last weekend’s AFC Divisional Round victory over the Houston Texans, a game KC won 51-31.
“Andy’s a great coach,” Vrabel said. “This league is better off because Andy Reid is a part of it, and he has coached great teams. He’s prepared coaches to be head coaches. He’s been a great mentor for me.”
The Titans have defeated Reid’s teams more than any other outside of those in the NFC East, where the Eagles met the Cowboys, Giants and Redskins twice a year for 14 seasons. This from a coach whose 220 career triumphs stand second only to New England’s Bill Belichick among active coaches, and sixth all-time.
Building such a lopsided win total takes some crazy bounces. And in this case, they’ve all broken in favor of Tennessee.
Reid’s first encounter with the Titans, in 2000, ended with Tennessee’s Al Del Greco kicking a 50-yard field goal on the game’s final play for a 15-13 victory over the Eagles.
The teams met two years later and Tennessee overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to win 27-24. Reid finished his Eagles tenure 0-4 against the Titans.
His lone victory vs. Tennessee came in Reid’s first year in Kansas City. After that, the luck has been dismal for the Chiefs in this series.
During a 26-10 loss in the 2014 opener, the Chiefs lived through a nightmare scenario when star inside linebacker Derrick Johnson and defensive end Mike DeVito suffered season-ending Achilles injuries in a span of eight plays.
The next loss was logged two years later, when the teams met in one of the coldest Chiefs games ever at Arrowhead Stadium. It was 1 degree Fahrenheit at kickoff. The Titans trailed 17-16 when former Chiefs kicker Ryan Succop put his foot into a 53-yard field-goal attempt on the final play.
The kick was short. But Reid had called a time-out to further ice Succop, so he got a do-over.
“I told some of the guys earlier, if you give me 10 kicks from there, I don’t know if I could make one,” Succop said after his second attempt crawled over the crossbar for another Titans victory.
Reid’s costliest defeat against the Titans ended the Chiefs’ 2017 season.
The Chiefs were 8½-point favorites over Tennessee in an AFC Wild Card game and played the favorite’s role throughout the first half, grabbing a 21-3 lead.
A Chiefs nightmare unfolded after halftime. Running back Derrick Henry gained 114 of his 156 rushing yards after the break. The Titans got their first touchdown when quarterback Marcus Mariota tossed a 6-yard throw — to himself. Mariota’s third-and-goal pass attempt was knocked away by Chiefs cornerback Darrelle Revis but landed back in Mariota’s grasp for the score.
To date, not even the presence of star quarterback Patrick Mahomes has succeeded in altering Reid’s bad luck against the Titans.
The regular-season meeting between the Chiefs and Titans on Nov. 10 in Nashville was the reigning NFL MVPs first game back after missing his previous two starts with a dislocated knee.
Mahomes was excellent that day, tossing touchdown passes to Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill before completing an acrobatic 63-yard scoring fling to Mecole Hardman that gave the Chiefs a nine-point lead with 12 minutes remaining.
But the Chiefs couldn’t hold on. Tennessee surged ahead 35-32 and the Chiefs’ final two possessions ended with a botched field-goal snap and blocked field-goal attempt.
Stuff like that doesn’t usually happen to Reid and Chiefs … against other teams, anyway. But for whatever reason, the Titans have bumfuzzled Reid’s teams like no other foe.
If it’s not Eddie George running wild against them, it’s Henry. Or Steve McNair, Vince Young, Kerry Collins, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mariota and Ryan Tannehill, each of whom have started at quarterback in victories over Reid-coached squads.
Four Titans coaches have contributed to Reid’s 1-8 record against Tennessee, including Mke Mularkey, who was fired after beating the Chiefs in the playoffs.
What does it all mean now? Look elsewhere for a key, Vrabel said.
“Whatever his record is against this organization prior to Sunday’s game,” Vrabel said, “will have no bearing on the outcome of (Sunday’s) game.”
But a Chiefs loss would continue to build upon one of the strangest narratives in the NFL.
Reid vs. the Titans all-time
2000: Titans 15, Eagles 13
2002: Titans 27, Eagles 24
2006: Titans 31, Eagles 13
2010: Titans 37, Eagles 19
2013: Chiefs 26, Titans 17
2014: Titans 26, Chiefs 10
2016: Titans 19, Chiefs 17
2017: Titans 22, Chiefs 21*
2019: Titans 35, Chiefs 22
*wild card round, NFL playoffs
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM.