Kansas City Chiefs at Tennessee Titans: Live updates & analysis from NFL Week 16
What will you be watching for when the Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans take the field Sunday?
Maybe it’s the potential final few games of Travis Kelce’s career, if indeed he decides to hang it up after the season. Maybe it’s the possible audition of backup quarterback Gardner Minshew, with Patrick Mahomes set to miss significant time while recovering from a torn ACL and LCL.
Or maybe you’re a Chiefs fan who ... wants the team to lose to get a better draft pick in the rare season that won’t end in the playoffs.
Either way, today’s Chiefs-Titans game is coming up soon. Here’s how to watch and listen — and make sure you follow our commentary during the game.
KC Chiefs at Tennessee Titans: Stats, score updates and commentary
Follow updates and commentary from our KC Star team, including Chiefs insider Pete Sweeney and columnists Vahe Gregorian and Sam McDowell live at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
You can also see stats, scores and play-by-play below:
Three storylines for Chiefs vs. Titans
1. A big injury report for Kansas City
Beyond Patrick Mahomes, plenty of Chiefs regulars will sit this one out. You’d need both hands to count the absences for the game, with nine players listed out on Friday’s injury report. That includes receivers Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton and offensive tackles Jawaan Taylor and Jaylon Moore (and, of course, Josh Simmons).
Trent McDuffie and Leo Chenal will be missing from the defense, as will Derrick Nnadi. Essentially, if you’ve got any ailment — a serious injury or a bump or bruise — you won’t be playing in this game. But that creates some opportunities for others down the depth chart to step up.
2. The Gardner Minshew audition
When it was revealed that Mahomes suffered a torn ACL, the immediate question wasn’t about a return this season — it was about what next season looks like. ACL injuries can force players to miss upward of nine months, and it may take an additional season for a player to return to top form.
In the short-term, eyes will turn to Gardner Minshew, who after a back-breaking interception in last week’s loss will get the chance to lead this team in its final three games. Can he put an impressive audition for next year’s Week 1 job on tape? (That is, if Mahomes is still out.) Or perhaps he’ll be looking to earn another starting job elsewhere.
Either way, these games will certainly matter to Minshew.
3. The Travis Kelce retirement tour?
At this time, we don’t know if Travis Kelce will be ending his NFL career following the season. But the tea leaves seem to suggest that could be the case.
On several occasions, Kelce has declined interview requests and saved all of his postgame commentary for his weekly podcast. But this week he did at least speak to reporters, who asked about the very topic fans have been wondering about.
For now, Kelce isn’t divulging what his future holds. But he maintains he’ll be locked in while playing out the last three games in 2025. “It’s just integrity, man,” Kelce said Friday. “... I think the integrity of being a man about your work and giving everybody your devoted attention and your sense of urgency to be at your best for them, I think that’s just how you need to go about work, whether you’re in the race or not.”
