Mahomes and the Chiefs continue their reign as rulers of the AFC
Patrick Mahomes heard the opinions across the NFL landscape that the Kansas City Chiefs didn’t possess the tools to repeat as AFC and Super Bowl champions. After a 20-17 loss at home to the Buffalo Bills on December 10 in Week 14 dropped them to 8-5, the doubters’ voices were amplified.
Last season, in their march toward the Super Bowl title, culminating with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs only lost three games in the NFL’s 17-game regular season schedule. After the defeat to the Bills, the Chiefs regrouped to win three of the last four games and captured their eight straight AFC title.
Following their 26-7 wildcard game victory over the Miami Dolphins on January 13, the No. 3-seeded Chiefs exacted revenge against the No. 2-seeded Bills on the road in the divisional round the next weekend with a gripping 27-24 win. Then this past Sunday, facing the No. 1 seed Baltimore Ravens on the road, they quieted the skeptics by turning back the league’s best team during the regular season and their dynamic quarterback Lamar Jackson, topping them 17-10 to earn the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl appearance in the last six seasons.
The Chiefs will meet the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Super Bowl LVIII (58). It is a rematch of Super Bowl LIV four years ago, when the Chiefs beat the 49ers 31-20.
Although Jackson is certain to be named the NFL’s MVP when the award is presented on February 8 at the 2024 NFL Honors Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, he was denied the coveted opportunity of playing for a league title.
While Mahomes and the Chiefs offense was calm and surgical going up against the best defense in football this season, Jackson and the Ravens’ offense was disjointed and anxious, shockingly deviating from its strength of employing a grinding rushing attack activating their running backs.
Under their first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken, the Ravens’ running backs had 20 or more combined carries in 12 of their previous 18 games before Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, including a season high 31 the prior week in a dominant 34-10 win over the Houston Texans in the divisional round.
Yet Monken confoundingly and inexplicably only called six rushing plays by his running backs against a Chiefs defense that allowed 182 yards on the ground to the Bills in their prior game.
Two costly turnovers in the fourth quarter also undid the Ravens. Wide receiver Zay Flowers fumbled the ball at the goal line early in the fourth quarter with the Ravens down 17-7 leading to a touchback and the Chiefs regaining possession. Then Jackson threw an interception into the end zone trying to hit tight end Isaiah Likely with 6:54 to go at the Chiefs 25-yard line still down 17-7.
“Our defense was outstanding,” said Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. “We were able to get a lead, and we were able to maintain that lead with great personality, as they’ve done throughout the season.”
Meanwhile, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh’s defense lived up to their lofty reputation, holding the Chiefs scoreless in the second half. Still, Mahomes and Kansas City’s offensive unit were acutely aware of the value of ball protection and did not commit a turnover the entire game.
The Chiefs still had a chance to get the ball back for one last drive. But a 32-yard completion from Mahomes to receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a first down with 2:19 to play sealed the win.
“Coach Reid had the confidence to give us a chance to throw the ball in that situation,” Mahomes said.
And so it is that the Chiefs are off to another Super Bowl.
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