Ryan Succop of the Tennessee Titans kicks a 53-yard field goal to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 19-17 on Dec. 18, 2016.Peter Aiken/Getty Images
Ryan Succop kicked a 53-yard field goal into the wind as time expired to give Tennessee a 19-17 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on a frigid Sunday and keep the Titans tied with Houston atop the AFC South.
Succop, who began his career with Kansas City, came up short on his first try at the winner, but Chiefs coach Andy Reid had called a timeout just before the snap. Given a second chance, Succop knocked it through with a couple feet to spare as the Titans poured off the bench to celebrate.
The Titans (8-6) had rallied from a 17-7 hole, and Derrick Henry's second touchdown run got them within 17-16 with just over three minutes left. But coach Mike Mularkey went for a two-point conversion and the lead, and Marcus Mariota was pressured immediately and his pass never reached the end zone.
The Chiefs (10-4) came in tied with the Raiders for first in the AFC West and could have clinched a playoff spot. Kansas City was unable to pick up a first down to clinch the game, and Tennessee got the ball back with a minute left. With no timeouts, Mariota calmly found Rishard Matthews for 19 yards and Delanie Walker twice to set up Succop's field-goal attempt. "You can sit here and point fingers and all that stuff that bad teams do, or you can fix it," Reid said, "and I have total trust in this team to do that."
The dramatic late-game turn came after Tennessee squandered plenty of chances early. Matthews fumbled within sight of the goal line in the first half, ending a streak of four straight games without a turnover for the Titans. And Mariota, a Hawaii native, had plenty of trouble dealing with the cold weather.
It was -17 C at kickoff at Arrowhead Stadium, with a wind chill of -28 C, making it the coldest game in Kansas City since the franchise began keeping records in 1994. The Chiefs nevertheless got off to a hot start when Tyreek Hill faked like he was running an option play and took an inside handoff instead, running untouched 68 yards for a first-quarter touchdown. Alex Smith added a TD run later in the half, and Cairo Santos knocked through a field goal, but the Chiefs also blew a couple of opportunities.
"I thought we were awful on third down and we didn't capitalize in the red zone," Chiefs wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said.
Succop hit from 39 yards early in the fourth quarter make it a one-possession game, and the Titans promptly got the ball back and marched the other way, twice converting third down and once on fourth to set up Henry's one-yard TD plunge. The conversion attempt was a disaster, but it wound up being moot. The Titans' defence and Succop's strong right leg made sure of it.
The record for coldest game at Arrowhead Stadium had been -13 C before Sunday. It was so cold that the fuses in the west scoreboard froze, blanking out a large section of it for much of the game.