Why each team left in the playoffs will or won’t…

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Why they will win the Super Bowl: The easy answer is always Derrick Henry, but not enough attention has been paid to the Titans’ impressive defense, which has done a major turnaround in 2021 and looks to be a championship-caliber unit. Tennessee has arguably the best front four in the NFL with Jeffery Simmons, Denico Autry, Bud Dupree and Harold Landry. That group has consistently gotten pressure all season long, allowing the Titans to drop extra help into coverage, and it has been elite against the run. In the secondary, Tennessee has an elite safety duo in Kevin Byard and Amani Hooker, and Jackrabbit Jenkins, Kristian Fulton and Elijah Molden have all been good to great. All that and we didn’t even mention a supremely-talented inside linebacker duo in David Long and Zach Cunningham. While Henry is no doubt crucial to the Titans’ hopes of winning a Super Bowl, it’s the defense that will put this team over the top.

Why they won’t: The Titans’ biggest issue this year has been their passing attack, which has suffered thanks to inconsistency, injuries, and shoddy pass protection. Henry can only do so much by himself offensively, so it’s imperative that Ryan Tannehill, A.J. Brown and Julio Jones step up to complement him, while also taking advantage of the extra attention Henry commands. Things were certainly moving in the right direction at the end of the season, but concerns about Tennessee’s ability to move the ball through the air are still valid after what we’ve seen over the entirety of the 18-week season. If Tennessee can even come close to re-capturing the success it had throwing the football the past two regular seasons, this team will be very hard to beat. If not, the Titans’ will struggle to go far in the playoffs.

– Mike Moraitis, Titans Wire