The Tennessee Titans are weird.
At times this season, they’ve looked like the class of the AFC.
Other times, they’ve lost to the Houston Texans.
So they really, really couldn’t afford a loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night, which would have been their second defeat in as many weeks. After coming back from a 10-0 deficit to tie the score at 17-17 late in the fourth quarter, Tennessee needed some late-game heroics to pull out the victory.
That’s when quarterback Ryan Tannehill came through — not with his arm, but with his legs.
On 1st-and-10 from the Tennessee 46-yard line, Tannehill dashed out of the pocket for a 23-yard gain to the San Francisco 31. After a couple more clock-killing runs, Titans kicker Randy Bullock punched a 44-yard field goal through the uprights to give Tennessee a 20-17 lead and the eventual win.
The Titans made things a little harder on themselves than it had to be on the ensuing kickoff with an extended, lateral-filled return by the Niners that ultimately went for naught. But at least it was a fitting end to a sloppy game filled with untimely penalties and dumb turnovers.
The win kept the Titans near the top of the AFC playoff standings and in the conversation of potential contenders with just two regular-season games remaining.
