The surging Tennessee Titans aren’t getting much respect heading into their Week 9 Sunday Night Football matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs as a 12.5-point underdog. After dropping their first two games the Titans have won five in a row SU and ATS, but none of the teams they beat currently have a winning record. And catching the Chiefs following a bye isn’t an easy task. They’ve never lost the first game after their in-season bye since Patrick Mahomes became the starter going 4-0 SU and 2-2 ATS.
The Week 9 Sunday Night Football contest between the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs will take place at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO at 8:20 p.m. ET on November 6, 2022 and will be televised on NBC.
Titans vs Chiefs Odds
Tennessee Titans +12.5 ( +477 )
Kansas City Chiefs -12.5 ( -650 )
Over/Under 46.5
Odds Analysis
Five straight wins on the season and five wins in the last six outings with Kansas City still has the Titans as the second-biggest dog on the Week 9 betting board. If the line of Tennessee +12.5 holds it’ll mark the second time the Titans were dogged by double digits. They were catching 10 points in the Week 2 tilt at Buffalo losing 41-7. Since then, though, the Titans have turned things around with five straight wins and payouts. The mood is much happier after the Chiefs rebounded from a tough loss to Buffalo by pounding the Niners in Week 7 ahead of their bye. Laying 1-point the Chiefs triumphed on the road 44-23. They’ve failed to cash at home going 0-3 ATS with every game decided by four points or less.
Tennessee Titans
With Ryan Tannehill shelved last week due to an ankle injury, the Titans turned to Malik Willis. It was a rough outing for the rookie third-round pick making his first start. Willis threw only 10 passes completing six for 55 yards with an interception. But as we’ve come to see over the last few seasons, the Titans can dominate on the ground with Derrick Henry, and as a result they didn’t need Willis to do anything special. Henry rushed for 219 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries and the Titans amassed 314 yards on the ground against the NFL’s worst run defense. It might be too much to ask for a repeat performance against the Chiefs.
We’re still unsure of Tannehill’s status ahead of this game. The Titans could use a more balanced attack against the Chiefs, who are third-best in the NFL defending the run. But you can be sure the ground game will be featured prominently regardless of who starts behind center since Henry has been chewing up yardage. He’s gone over 100 yards in each of the last four games with an average of just over 5.0 yards per carry. “The difference between us and the rest of the other teams is we have Derrick Henry,” coach Mike Vrabel said.
Kansas City Chiefs
Catching Mahomes and the Chiefs after their bye hasn’t ended well for opponents. Since Mahomes became the starter in 2018 the Chiefs have won all four games following their off week and they’ve captured seven of their last eight such games. Favored by at least a touchdown in the previous four the Chiefs went just 2-2 ATS and they’ve struggled to cover at home this season. They are 2-1 SU at Arrowhead but 0-3 ATS with wins over division rivals Las Vegas and Los Angeles coming by a total of four points. Following a 24-20 loss to Buffalo in Week 6 the Chiefs rebounded with an impressive offensive display to beat San Francisco 44-23 sending them into their bye on a positive note.
One thing we’ve come to expect from the Chiefs is plenty of offense. And despite averaging just over 107 yards on the ground they boast the highest scoring unit in the NFL with 32 points per game. It appears as though Mahomes has found a comfort level with new receivers Marquez Valdes-Scantling and JuJu Smith-Schuster, who each had over 100 yards receiving last time out. And the off week allowed for some defensive players to get healthy ahead of a matchup with Henry, who will be a focal point of the game plan.
Titans vs Chiefs Prediction
Winning five straight is impressive, but the level of competition leaves something on the table. Still, this is a Tennessee squad that claimed the top seed in the AFC last season without Henry for the last half of the schedule. And they’ve played the Chiefs tough winning three of the last four games. For whatever reason the games are a little tighter in KC and that has me backing the points, though I will back the Chiefs for the outright win.
Prediction: Tennessee Titans +12.5 and UNDER 46.5
