National Football League

Chiefs beat Titans 34-14, win AFC West

Published Dec. 27, 2010 3:28 p.m. ET

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The Kansas City Chiefs no longer have to whisper the word ''playoffs.'' They can shout it from the rooftops if they wish.

In coach Todd Haley's zeal to make sure his players kept their eyes firmly on the immediate task at hand, the word was banned this past week around Arrowhead Stadium. After their 34-14 beating of Tennessee on Sunday and before Cincinnati defeated San Diego three hours later, players kept referring to ''the next part of the season'' and ''the second season.''

But now they're the AFC West champs and Haley's OK with actually uttering the P word.

''I probably won't say it a whole bunch,'' Haley said shortly after the Bengals beat the four-time defending champion Chargers. ''I'm proud of the guys. There's a lot of people who have struggled through some tough times. The reward in this business is winning, and winning big games. This just gives us an opportunity to play in some bigger games. We'll see how far we've come.''

They've come quite far. In the three previous seasons, two under Herm Edwards and one under Haley, the Chiefs won six games. Last year in Haley's first season in Kansas City, the Chiefs went 4-12. Now with a six-game improvement, they've set a franchise record for a one-year turnaround and matched their victory total of the three previous years.

In the playoff opener, they'll host a wild-card team - Pittsburgh, Baltimore or the New York Jets.

''It's a huge accomplishment,'' quarterback Matt Cassel said. ''It's a huge turnaround for us, being 4-12 and going through the year we did last year. I know there's a ton of adversity and all those things were very difficult to handle at times. But to be here with 10 wins on our season and one win away from a division championship - I mean, it's remarkable to say the least.''

Cassel connected with Jamaal Charles for touchdowns on KC's first two possessions and Eric Berry returned an interception 54 yards for another score as the Chiefs raced to a 31-7 halftime lead. Cassel hit 12 of his first 13 passes.

The Titans (6-9) spent much of the game dropping passes, missing arm tackles and piling up penalties while losing for the seventh time in eight games.

Dwayne Bowe had six catches for 153 yards, including a career-long 75-yard touchdown as the Chiefs remained unbeaten in seven home games.

The Chiefs had 327 of their 458 total yards and all but three of their points while rolling up a 31-7 halftime lead.

''The game got out of reach early,'' Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. ''You've got to execute to near-perfection when you get down like we were and we just didn't do that.''

A couple of times in the ragged second half, it seemed fights were about to break out. By the end of the third quarter, each team had three unnecessary roughness penalties.

''It's just two physical teams going at it,'' Chiefs cornerback Brandon Flowers said. ''Wasn't nobody going to back down. So when you get two teams like that, stuff like that is going to happen.''

The Titans, one of the league's most penalized teams, were flagged nine times for 74 yards, while the Chiefs uncharacteristically drew seven penalties for 84.

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