A mobile device includes a display, a mobile-communication modem including a Viterbi decoder (VD) configured to decode a tail biting convolutional code (TBCC)-encoded data, a memory coupled to the mobile-communication modem, and a wireless antenna coupled to the mobile-communication modem and to receive a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The VD is configured to: receive data encoded by TBCC; select a candidate to initiate a training section; determine final path metric (PM) values of possible states at a last step of the training section; determine a PM-related value based on the final PM values of the possible states; and determine an early termination of a decoding for the candidate based on the PM-related value.