Don’t let the Kansas City Chiefs’ (latest) pedestrian performance on Saturday fool you.
Did they look overly impressive in their playoff opener while beating the Houston Texans 23-14? No, not especially. Is that particularly unusual – even from a team taking aim at the first-ever Super Bowl threepeat? No, not especially.
You’re probably aware that three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is 7-0 in the divisional round of the playoffs since he became K.C.’s starting quarterback in 2018 – which is another way of saying he’s never failed to guide this team into the AFC championship game. But you might not be aware that the Chiefs – despite their deserved dynastic status – rarely cakewalk to the cusp of the Super Sunday. This was the first time in five years that Kansas City won a divisional contest by more than seven points – the previous occurrence when they stormed back from a 24-0 deficit against Houston before running away with a 51-31 decision. Since then, the average margin of victory in this round has been six points.
“The goal is just to continue to move on in the playoffs,” Mahomes said on ESPN’s broadcast shortly after the final gun. “(A)nother good team football win, and we’ve got to be better offensively in some situations. But you get a win, and that’s all you want at the end of the day.”
The formula felt all too familiar.
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The Chiefs defense was generally stout and especially when it needed to be, keeping the Texans out of the end zone on two of their three red-zone incursions. Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud suffered eight sacks (three by George Karlaftis) – including on fourth-and-10 from inside Kansas City territory with 10 minutes left in the game.
The mistakes were minimal, the offense committing nary a turnover while the team incurred just four flags (for 29 yards).
Mahomes, who many NFL fans believe is unfairly safeguarded by officials, was the beneficiary of a pair of almost incidental personal foul calls, the Chiefs scoring 10 points at the end of those particular drives.
Yet they only managed 212 yards and two touchdowns offensively despite five red-zone trips of their own.
“That’s a good defense, and we scored 23 points against them,” Mahomes said, disputing his team was adversely affected by the layoff from its first-round bye.
“I’m not gonna use that excuse as rust. We came out there, we battled, we found ways to get points. And we’re gonna be even better going into this next week.”
But, per usual at this time of year, he and Travis Kelce couldn’t have been much better.
Kelce, who didn’t play an offensive snap as a rookie in 2013, will (eventually) retire with an argument as the greatest tight end in a century-plus of pro football. But the 35-year-old is slowing down, 2024 his least-productive campaign (his 51.4 receiving yards per game were a career low) since that redshirt rookie year.
You wouldn’t have known that Saturday.
There he was, repeatedly finding holes in the Houston defense, Mahomes almost unfailingly finding Kelce for his patented open-field breakaways. They connected seven times for 117 yards – Kelce’s ninth playoff game hitting the century mark, a new league record for the postseason – the coup de grâce being an 11-yard TD hookup three minutes into the fourth quarter, Mahomes chucking the ball into the end zone while nearly suffering a shoestring sack. It was the 18th time the duo had connected for a postseason touchdown, another league record.
“You know 8-7 is gonna to show up whenever it’s a big-time moment, and he did that,” said Mahomes. “I mean, everybody was asking, ‘Where’s Travis Kelce at?’ I think he showed the world where he’s at.”
Where the Chiefs are collectively at is one step closer to history – which isn’t to say securing that third consecutive Lombardi Trophy, which Mahomes and Kelce immediately identified as the objective following their overtime defeat of the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 58, is anything close to a foregone conclusion.
“I think we’re fortunate that we’ve got a lot of great character guys in the building,” said Kelce. “As the years have gone on, we only got here by focusing on the task at hand. This win was great – we’re gonna enjoy this one tonight – but the task at hand is gonna be that AFC championship. You don’t get a threepeat by looking past that.”
The Chiefs haven’t really been able to look past anyone in 2024, their growing pile of victories (16 including Saturday’s) generally decided by one possession – the average spread in those triumphs 7.2 points.
And the next opponent will be either the Baltimore Ravens or Buffalo Bills, the former failing to beat the Chiefs in the regular-season opener by an Isaiah Likely cleat size, the latter handing K.C. its first loss Nov. 17 after a 9-0 start … albeit in Western New York. Regardless, easy enough to argue both the Ravens and Bills were better teams than the reigning champs down the stretch, both sporting decidedly more explosive offenses and featuring quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, respectively, who will almost surely finish first and second in this season’s MVP race.
“Those are two of the best teams in the National Football League for sure. They got a lot of talent all across the board, but especially at that quarterback position,” said Kelce.
And that’s likely going to mean yet another nail-biter at Arrowhead.
Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid, who notched his 300th NFL victory (including playoffs) Saturday, have led the Chiefs to an 11-2 postseason record at home since joining forces. Yet the average margin (win or lose) in their six AFC title games together has been just 4.3 points.
But as the Chiefs reminded us Saturday, there are no style points in mid-January. And notching another pair of victories by 4.3 points – give or take – will take his organization where none has gone before.
“I know that means a lot to him – 300 wins is crazy,” Mahomes said of Reid’s benchmark, one reached by only three other NFL coaches. “But I think he’s trying to get to 302 at the end of this year.”
An outcome that will take more than just Reid, Mahomes, Kelce and Chris Jones, but the entirety of the roster – one that’s consistently been just good enough this season.
‘Everybody’s winners on this team and I think that’s what makes us special,’ said Mahomes.
‘So, it doesn’t always have to be an offensive explosion, it doesn’t always have to be the defense locking it down, it’s just who can find a way to get a win and how can we do that? I think that’s what makes us a special football team and we’ll try to carry that into next week.”
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