How the Chiefs contained Derrick Henry — and how they could shut down the 49ers in Super Bowl 54

The Chiefs did what no other opponent in the postseason could. They contained Derrick Henry. Now they’re headed to Super Bowl 54, where they’ll have to shut down another team that’s relied on their running game to power their playoff hopes: the San Francisco 49ers..

Kansas City limited Titans’ bellwether back averaged just 3.6 yards per carry — his lowest per-touch average since a Week 6 loss to the Broncos — in a 69-yard performance in a 35-24 loss that ended Tennessee’s playoff hopes at the doorstep of the Super Bowl. They had they place taken by a Chiefs team confident in not just an explosive offense, but a defense capable of shutting down the league’s most unstoppable runner.

Kansas City came into the AFC Championship Game with a defense that ranked 29th in the league in rushing efficiency this season. That unit found a way to stop a tailback who’d turned playoff wins over the Patriots and Ravens into a time capsule from the run-heavy NFL of the 70s and 80s. Henry found gaps early, but a grinding front and the Chiefs’ explosive offense combined to keep him from hitting top speed.

That turned out to be the difference between a trip to Super Bowl 54 and Henry’s sudden availability for next week’s Pro Bowl. If Kansas City can do it again, it could mean the club’s first Super Bowl title since 1970.

Tennessee’s offensive philosophy was clear. Through two playoff games, Ryan Tannehill had passed for 160 total yards and Henry had run for 277. The Titans were going to run the ball alongside the occasional throw. The Chiefs were going to stack up their defenders to stop it.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s preferred attack was to place one safety deep in the middle of the field, line up his defensive backs directly across from their assignments near the line of scrimmage in man coverage, and cluster at least seven big guys — linebackers, ends, and tackles — close to the Titans’ offensive line. This was the case when the team had its 21 personnel lineup on the field (two wideouts, one tight end, and two running backs):

It held true in single-back jumbo formations as well — that’s safety Daniel Sorenson just barely peeking into frame from 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

This made things claustrophobic in the rush game, but it still wasn’t a deterrent for Mike Vrabel. The Titans ran the ball on their first six first downs of the day, gaining 27 yards (4.5 yards per carry) in the process. When Tennessee finally deviated from that pattern, the Chiefs’ linebackers — this time with a zone defense operating behind them — were so concerned with Henry’s presence that they allowed tight end Jonnu Smith to break free for an easy 22-yard catch.

One play later, Henry would take a familiar wildcat snap into the end zone for a 10-0 Tennessee lead.

The Titans were able to find success against this defense early, but it didn’t last. Kansas City gave up just four runs of 5+ yards all afternoon thanks to that stacked attack. Spagnuolo played the numbers game up front and trusted his secondary to fill in the gaps in mostly single coverage. This wore down the Tennessee offensive line and limited the space anyone had to operate near the line of scrimmage.

Short-yardage situations, no matter where they came on the field, necessitated goal line or goal line-ish lineups that jammed linebackers inches from the neutral zone. Even first downs saw Spagnuolo pack the box and dare Tannehill to throw the ball long early in the game. He rarely did.

Tennessee ran the ball on first down in 16 of its first 20 opportunities, including plays wiped out by penalty. Over that span they took a 10-0 advantage, turned it into 17-7, and then watched helplessly as it devolved into a 28-17 Chiefs’ lead.

Kansas City took an 11-point lead with 14:50 left in the game, a number that forced Vrabel to reconfigure his playbook and move away from the clock-churning runs that had defined his postseason to that point. The Titans had fed Henry to the tune of 47 total carries in the second halves of wins over the Patriots and Ravens — 23.5 per game in two contests Tennessee led for the entirety of the second half.

Henry, now playing front behind, had only three runs after halftime, all of which came in the third quarter. Once Kansas City went up, 28-17, he only touched the ball twice more — each time on unsuccessful screen passes that lost a net eight yards.

This was a massive blow for Henry, whose battering running style is best deployed against a gassing defense late in games. He’d run for 215 of his 377 yards after halftime in the Titans first two playoff wins. Instead of piling up more third- and fourth-quarter yards in Kansas City, he was mostly anonymous in a losing effort.

Tannehill emerged as the league’s most efficient starting quarterback in 2019 after taking the reins from Marcus Mariota in Week 7, but he couldn’t find that regular-season form in the playoffs. The Chiefs will face a similar challenge from Jimmy Garoppolo in the Super Bowl. While the well-remunerated young quarterback had a solid regular season (27 touchdowns, 8.4 yards per pass, a 102 passer rating), he hasn’t been asked to do much in the postseason thanks to early leads and a potent rushing game.

Tannehill came into his showdown with the Chiefs having thrown 29 passes in his two playoff games before the AFC title game. Garoppolo has thrown the ball 27 times in his two wins from the NFC side of the bracket. Though the 49ers don’t have a singular talent like Henry in their backfield, they’ve still run for 476 yards on 84 carries (5.7 yards per rush) when you take end of game/half kneeldowns out of the equation.

San Francisco has typically churned out yards with a running back platoon, but Sunday’s win over the Packers was a showcase game for former journeyman Raheem Mostert. The fifth-year veteran ran for the second-most yards in playoff history in a 220-yard, four-touchdown performance. He got the call due to an injury to Tevin Coleman (who’d rushed for 105 yards the week before) and head coach Kyle Shanahan’s lack of trust in Matt Breida, who has fumbled three times in his last 16 carries. This could mean a starring role for Mostert in the Super Bowl — and a new kind of tailback for the Chiefs to contain.

Mostert is a very different runner than Henry, beginning with the fact he weighs roughly 50 pounds less than his Titans counterpart. While Henry is a bruiser with surprising speed, Mostert is more of a finesse runner with a collegiate track star top gear. Henry is easier to get a body on, but harder to bring down. Mostert is slippery, but with 2.9 yards after contact this fall he’s also capable of running through tackles.

The question isn’t whether Kansas City will be able to stop him; it’s whether Spagnuolo will crowd the line of scrimmage and leave a single safety deep in order to do so. That lineup would effectively dare Garoppolo, coming off his first full season as an NFL starter, to throw the ball downfield. The Super Bowl could be determined on whether or not the Niners QB can find those opportunities and exploit them in ways Tannehill couldn’t.

The Titans came out looking to institute a familiar gameplan. The Chiefs were ready for it. They became the first team in the postseason capable of stopping it.

Henry came into the AFC title game averaging 5.9 yards each time Tannehill handed him the ball. Kansas City cut that to 3.6 before making him a ghost in the final two quarters.

That was a statement from a group that had been the Chiefs’ biggest weakness in 2019 — but it came at the expense of the team’s extra coverage from the secondary. Tannehill wasn’t able to take advantage of those opportunities downfield Sunday. But if Kansas City runs it back in Super Bowl 54, Garoppolo and the 49ers may just be able to.