This is why football fans are perplexed by the Kansas City Chiefs, and frustrated with them continuing to win.
Kansas City didn’t play its best game in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Not even close. And that’s not new. There were many games this season, and last season too, when the Chiefs weren’t great and still won somehow. Dynasties annoy fans in general, but even more when those teams are not dominant.
The Chiefs found a way to win in Saturday’s divisional round game against the Houston Texans, as they almost always do. Despite the Texans having more than twice as many yards as them late in the third quarter, the Chiefs still led. Then there was a questionable unnecessary roughness call on a hit to Patrick Mahomes, one of a few calls that had non-Chiefs fans screaming on social media, that led to a Travis Kelce touchdown and an eigh-point lead. Everyone knew how it would play out after that. The Chiefs won 23-14 and are going to the AFC championship game for the seventh straight season. They’ll host the winner of Sunday night’s Baltimore Ravens-Buffalo Bills clash.
The Chiefs keep winning close games because they do many things very well. Mahomes is already an all-time great quarterback. Andy Reid is a fantastic coach. The defense has been very good each of the last two seasons and was again on Saturday.
But that won’t stop fans of the other 31 teams from complaining about how Kansas City keeps winning even when it seems they’re constantly on the ropes.
The Texans needed to play their best to beat the Chiefs. On the first play, they gave up a 63-yard kickoff return, cornerback Kris Boyd took a 15-yard penalty for throwing his helmet after the play and he shoved special teams coordinator Frank Ross when he got to the sideline. Not exactly the perfect start Houston needed.
The Chiefs only got a field goal out of that big kickoff return. Kansas City didn’t get off to a great start offensively, but the Texans didn’t take advantage of it. The Chiefs’ defense had a very good first half, buying time for the big play from the Chiefs’ offense that would inevitably come.
And it did. Travis Kelce got open in the middle of the field and Mahomes found him. He rumbled 49 yards to the Houston 6-yard line. A few plays later, Kareem Hunt scored to give the Chiefs a 13-3 lead. It was the first time all season Kelce had a play with more than 20 yards after the catch, according to Next Gen Stats. Last season, Kelce came alive in the playoffs, and he started this postseason with seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown.
It was a fairly typical Chiefs game this season. They hadn’t played particularly well on offense. They had just 123 yards at halftime, and 49 of it came on Kelce’s catch and run. But they also didn’t make any critical mistakes, and the defense played well. And despite some lethargic offense, Kansas City led 13-6 at the half.
The Texans had an impressive drive to start the second half. They had to gain 101 yards on offense to offset 19 yards of penalties on the drive. It lasted 15 plays and 10:24 on the clock and ended with a Joe Mixon touchdown. That gave the Texans some momentum, which was quickly wiped away when Ka’imi Fairbairn missed the extra point wide right. Still, Houston trailed 13-12 and seemed very much in the game. But the Chiefs are hard to beat.
At that point Houston was out-gaining Kansas City 275-123. The Texans had outplayed the Chiefs but were still trailing. It feels hopeless to those rooting against the Chiefs when they don’t even play well and they move on in the playoffs.
Kansas City started to put it away after that. There was the questionable call on a hit against Mahomes, and the Kelce touchdown. The Texans made a mistake on fourth-and-10, being indecisive before going for it and then rushing a play that led to a sack. A bad punt led to good field position and a Chiefs drive that ended in a field goal and an 11-point lead.
The Texans had a shot at a field goal inside the two-minute warning to cut Kansas City’s lead to eight points, after the Chiefs’ eighth sack of the game, but it was blocked and that sealed the win.
The Chiefs are two wins from making history. No team has ever won three straight Super Bowls. Kansas City went 15-2 this season, including one loss in which they rested all their key players, and have a spot in the NFL’s final four yet again. At some point it doesn’t matter how it looks or if they’re playing their best. In all but a few rare cases in the Mahomes era, they’ve always been good enough to win the biggest games.
Fans who don’t root for the Chiefs might not like it, but they get to spend another conference championship weekend watching Mahomes try to make it back to another Super Bowl.
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