How bout them Chiefs!
The two-time defending Super Bowl champs, the Kansas City Chiefs, are making their annual trip to the AFC Championship game, their seventh in a row. Despite a workmen’s-like performance from Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, the Chiefs earned a 23-14 win in the AFC divisional round on the broad shoulders of Patrick Mahomes and future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce, who snagged seven passes for 117 yards and a touchdown.
“It’s been a special run,” said Mahomes, whose wife, Brittany, gave birth to their third child last Sunday. “I still remember moments from the World Series my dad played when I was 5 years old. These are the moments that I’ll cherish my entire life.”
The run isn’t over yet. Not with the Chiefs (16-2), cheered on once again by Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift and WNBA star Caitlin Clark, chasing an unprecedented third straight Lombardi Trophy.
Mahomes, who threw for 177 yards and a score, completing 16-25 passes, improved 16-3 in the postseason, tying Joe Montana for the second-most wins by a starting QB in NFL history behind Tom Brady. That includes his perfect 7-0 record in divisional playoff games.
Kelce’s biggest play was an 11-yard touchdown grab that extended Kansas City’s lead to eight points, 20-12, with less than four minutes gone by in the fourth quarter. He now has nine career postseason games with over 100 receiving yards, breaking the record previously held by the receiver Jerry Rice, who is widely regarded as the greatest receiver in NFL history.
The duo of Mahomes and Kelce helped Andy Reid become just the fourth coach in NFL history with 300 career wins.
“I joked to the guys, you know, you get a couple of more and you might be able to equal my weight,” Reid said.
The Chiefs started the game with an epic 63-yard punt return by Nikko Remigio that turned into a 78-yard pickup following a Houston 15-yard penalty. The two teams then traded chip shot field goals before running back Kareem Hunt found pay dirt with the game’s first touchdown with just under five minutes left until halftime. The score was made possible by a 49-yard catch and run by Kelce.
Stroud, despite injuring his left knee early in the first quarter, consistently made big time plays as a dual threat, with both his arm and his feet while leading the Texans on back-to-back scoring drives. The latter was a methodical 15-play, 82-yard march down the field at the start of the second half that was capped by a Joe Mixon touchdown run. But Houston, who had serious special teams issues all night long, kicking into the cold wind, missed the PAT that would have knotted the game at 13 and the Chiefs offense responded immediately with its own scoring drive that concluded with Kelce’s touchdown reception. Kansas City’s defense, spearheaded by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and special teams then came up with crucial stops to preserve the win.
“We’re fortunate we’ve got a lot of great character guys in the building,” Kelce said. “On top of that, as the years have gone on, we only got here by focusing on the task at hand. And right now, this one was great. We’re going to enjoy this one tonight. But the task at hand is going to be that AFC championship.
“You don’t get a three-peat by looking past that.”
Kansas City went back in the time machine and received a vintage performance from Kelce, who had just one 100-yard receiving game during the regular season. Kelce was aided in the passing game by rookie Xavier Worthy, who caught five of six targets for 45 yards in his postseason debut. Mahomes was automatic completing 12 of 14 for 162 yards and a touchdown when throwing to Kelce or Worthy and was a shaky 4 of 11 for 15 yards on attempts to anyone else.
Kansas City’s offense improved in the red zone in the second half after converting just 1 of 3 in the first 30 minutes. The Chiefs scored touchdowns on both of their trips inside the Texans’ 20-yard line in the second half.
Embed from Getty ImagesDefensively, Kansas City got timely sacks on Stroud, who was taken down eight times. George Karlaftis had three sacks of Stroud all by himself that included one on fourth down with the Chiefs protecting an eight-point lead with just under 10 minutes left.
Kansas City also made a pair of big plays on special teams: Remigio’s big return to set the tone of the game and Justin Reid’s blocked field goal attempt with 1:52 left and the Chiefs ahead by 11 points.
Houston tried their best, but too many self-inflicted wounds prevented them from reaching their first conference title game in franchise history. Specifically, the Texans’ special teams came unglued, as Ka’imi Fairbairn, who is from Hawaii and not use to kicking in frigid temperatures, missed two field goals.
Penalties plagued Houston all day. The Texans were flagged eight times for 82 yards, while Kansas City was penalized four times for 29 yards. Some of the flags on the Texans were legitimate, while several penalties were questionable at best.
Houston’s defense stepped up to the challenge and was solid most of the game, but it struggled in the red area in the second half and allowed too many big plays by Kelce.
Offensively, the Texans’ offensive line failed to protect Stroud, but other than that, it was an inspired effort by this unit. For large stretches, the Texans offense controlled the game’s momentum while keeping Mahomes and Co. on the sideline, which is the formula they needed to win. They were 10 of 17 on third down (compared to the Chiefs being 4 of 11) while consistently getting clutch completions from Stroud on possession downs. Stroud had a lot of success getting the ball to his playmakers Nico Collins, Dalton Schultz and Xavier Hutchinson, who caught a combined 13 passes for 196 yards. Houston’s passing game was complemented by Mixon and a ground game that outrushed the Chiefs 149-50.
If the Texans had their full arsenal of receivers, it is not out of the question to think that they would have won this game.
After Houston nearly tied the score, the Chiefs regained control of the game on their ensuing drive when Mahomes hit Kelce for a touchdown as he was falling to the ground.
“We knew going into this game, man, it was us versus everybody,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said afterward while alluding to the officiating. “When I say everybody, I mean everybody. The naysayers, the doubt. Everybody we had to go against again today. Going into this game knowing what we were up against, we can’t make the mistakes we made. We had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes.”
Kansas City will host the winner of Sunday night’s divisional round playoff game in Buffalo between the Baltimore Ravens and Bills. The Chiefs defeated the Ravens 28-27 in Week 1 but lost their regular-season showdown against the Bills 30-21.
For a second straight year, Houston won the AFC South division title and a wild-card round playoff game. They need to have better protection, special teams play and a healthier receiving corps if they are in this same position in 2025.
