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          How the 2019 AFC Championship loss to the Chiefs reshaped the Titans

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          Wk. 9 Whiteboard Wednesday Titans vs. Chiefs. Here's a look at a classic (2:19)

          Wk. 9 Whiteboard Wednesday Titans vs. Chiefs. Here's a look at a classic Andy Reid passing play that gets Travis Kelce isolated backside to put his sauce on routes against man or zone. Video by Turron Davenport (2:19)

          • Turron Davenport, ESPNNov 5, 2022, 10:00 AM
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              Turron Davenport covers the Tennessee Titans for ESPN. Turron is a former collegiate football player at Cheyney University and is a native of Philadelphia, and he has authored/co-authored four books. You can catch Turron on ESPN Radio on his show "Talking with TD" and you can follow him on Twitter: @TDavenport_NFL.
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          NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- As Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes dropped back with 23 seconds left in the first half of the 2019 AFC Championship Game, he quickly discovered he was going to have to make a play on his own with the Tennessee Titans' secondary blanketing his receivers.

          Mahomes scrambled to his left to elude a diving defender. Then he got by another defender with a stutter step before outracing a third would-be tackler. After tip-toeing the sideline, Mahomes cut his run back inside and broke two more tackles before diving into the end zone to give Kansas City its first lead.

          Up until that point, the Titans had played well and had been up by 10 late into the first half.

          But that play by Mahomes capped off 14 unanswered points to end the half and sent the Titans to the locker room trailing 21-17.

          "It was like, 'Oh shoot, that boy Mahomes just went Superman on us,'" Titans safety Kevin Byard said. "That Mahomes run just before halftime kind of took the wind out of the sails a little bit."

          Added linebacker David Long Jr., "Up until that point we were doing everything right. Players make plays. That's Pat Mahomes, he made a play. Then it was a domino effect."

          The Titans ended up losing 35-24 to the Chiefs, who they travel to play Sunday (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC) at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs went on to win the Super Bowl that year and will again be led by Mahomes, who has thrown for 2,159 yards and leads the NFL with 20 touchdown passes.

          "That entire playoff run was magical," Byard said. "One game away from the Super Bowl as an organization, it gave us that belief."

          Since that meeting, Tennessee has won two consecutive AFC South division titles and claimed the top seed in the playoffs last year.

          "It's just what we've built around here," Titans defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons said. "Our culture and the way everyone has bought into our culture has built the comfort around here as far as what we could do here in Tennessee."

          However, the Titans haven't won a playoff game since that 2019 postseason. Tennessee lost to the Baltimore Ravens at Nissan Stadium in the 2020 season and suffered a crushing 19-16 home loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round last season after a first-round bye.

          Titans coach Mike Vrabel doesn't like to look back on the past. He is more concerned about "continuing to build" and figuring out how to win each week.

          Long said Vrabel's "effort and finish" culture is something that the organization has taken on as its mantra.

          Although only 11 players from the 2019 team remain on the current roster, the "effort and finish" mantra shows up frequently on game days.

          "A lot has changed since then, especially people-wise," quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. "We don't have a ton of guys on this team that were on that team. But we've stayed steady, and the organization is true to what we believe in. No matter who comes in the building, we stay true to that."

          One can watch how Simmons as a defensive tackle ran down Washington Commanders' wide receiver Terry McLaurin 20 yards down the field to make the tackle during a 21-17 win in Week 5. Or take a look at how the offensive line pushed running back Derrick Henry forward for an additional 8 yards after he was stopped initially late in the fourth quarter to help seal the 19-10 win over the Houston Texans last Sunday.

          But this Sunday with the Chiefs, both teams come in with a 5-2 record and trail the Buffalo Bills (6-1) for the top seed in the AFC.

          Tennessee has won the last two regular-season games over the Chiefs. Both of which were at home.

          But, the playoff loss to Kansas City helped reshape the future for the Titans, and Byard feels they have some unfinished business to take care of this season.

          "We understood what caliber of team we have," Byard said. "The standard now is not 'Let's try to creep into the playoffs at 9-7.' [It's] 'let's try to get this No. 1 seed and go to the Super Bowl and win it.'"