The Chiefs keep riding, as does their horseshoe
They win the AFC West by beating the Chargers on their favorite play -- the last one.
Late Sunday night in Kansas City, coach Andy Reid gathered his Chiefs in the locker room and told them not to be ashamed of wins.“Keep your heads up,” he said. He agreed that the club could be winning more convincingly, but, really, winning is all that’s required.
Reid might have misinterpreted the despondency he thought he saw. The Chiefs could have been staring at the floor to keep from giggling. They had just won a 19-17 game for the second consecutive week, this one over the Chargers, when their kicker Matthew Wright doinked the winning field goal off the left upright and through.
It was just another phase in the Chiefs’ year-long experiment. How long can a football team snooze through a football game and still win, particularly one that is trying to become the first to win a third consecutive Super Bowl? How close can it get to the edge before falling, or would the Chiefs just consider it flying?
We all know the flaws. Patrick Mahomes doesn’t have a consistent deep threat and is being attacked through the EZ Pass lane that the Chiefs are using at left tackle. The Chiefs miss cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, who left as a free agent for Tennessee. Travis Kelce may be letting age and worldwide celebrity catch up with him a bit.
And yet the Chiefs are 12-1 and are still AFC West champions. With Buffalo losing at the Rams Sunday, the Chiefs should be setting up shop at home throughout the playoffs.
If that happens, we’ll look back on a regular season in which Kansas City’s opponents stepped on rakes from coast to coast.
Week One: Against Baltimore, the Chiefs are leading 27-17 early in the fourth quarter, but Lamar Jackson throws 10 yards to Isaiah Likely for a touchdown with five seconds left. The Ravens can tie it with a kick or win it with a 2-pointer. Or, more likely, they can lose it when the league checks the replay and finds that Likely’s toe, or maybe just his toenail, grazes the back line of the end zone when he makes the catch. Chiefs win, 27-20.
Week Two: Harrison Butker boots a 51-yard field goal with :03 left and the Chiefs beat Cincinnati, 26–25. But the drive would have died if Mahomes, on a fourth-and-16 incompletion to Rashee Rice, hadn’t gotten rescued by a pass interference flag on Daijahn Anthony, a call that was hooted down nationally.
Week Three: Atlanta is trying to overcome a 22-17 lead late in the fourth quarter, and the officials do throw three different flags at the Chiefs on the Falcons’ final drive. It’s fourth-and-1 on the Chiefs’ 13, and Nick Bolton hunts down Bijan Robinson and throws him for a 3-yard loss. Ballgame. But Atlanta doesn’t forget that, with 4:12 left, it was knocking on the same door, with the same score, and Kansas City’s Bryan Cook clearly interfered with Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts in the end zone. That was uncalled, and the Falcons eventually gave up the ball on downs.
Week Four: Kansas City falls behind the Chargers, 10-0, but it leads 17-10 on Samaje Perine’s 2-yard touchdown with 6:08 left. Chris Jones’ sack puts the Chargers into a fourth-and-15 on their own 41. Jim Harbaugh decides to punt, in hopes of getting the ball back, and the Chiefs are stuck at their own four with 3:15 remaining. But the Chargers only have one time out left. When Mahomes hits Xavier Worthy for 15 yards on third and six, Kansas City squeezes the rest of the clock for the win.
Week Nine: The Chiefs score with 4:20 to go and lead Tampa Bay 24-17, but in a role reversal, the Bucs score on a 1-yard pass from Baker Mayfield to Ryhan Miller. Bucs’ coach Todd Bowles opts to tie it with an extra point. The Chiefs then win the overtime coin toss and Bowles never sees the ball, or the coin, again. The Chiefs go 70 yards without even seeing third down, and Kareem Hunt’s run wins it, 30–24.
Week Ten: By now, NFL fans are beginning to wear Chiefs jerseys when they walk under ladders. But when Mahomes can’t cash in from the two-yard-line with six minutes left, Butker has to kick a 20-yard field goal for a 16-14 lead over Denver. Then Butker trips over the kicker’s operating manual and sees his kickoff fall short of the landing zone, which sets up Denver on its 40. Bo Nix gets Denver into position, and Will Lutz is lining up the game-winner from 35 yards out. It is blocked, of course, by the Deep State, specifically linebacker Leo Chenal.
Week Eleven: To throw off the scent of the NFL’s reformers, the Chiefs finally lose a game on someone else’s fight of fancy. Josh Allen of the Bills darts 26 yards on a fourth-and-two, with 2:27 left, and Buffalo becomes the first team to beat the champs in 2024, 30-21.
Week Twelve: What was supposed to be a peaceful Sunday afternoon in Charlotte turns out to be another Bonnie & Clyde mad dash. The Chiefs lead the Panthers, 27-16, in the third quarter, but Carolina ties it 27-27 after a pass interference call on Chamarri Conner. With :48 left, Mahomes catches the defense looking elsewhere and rumbles 22 yards, but fumbles – out of bounds. Then he tempts fate by throwing on third down, and Hunt catches it on the Carolina 13. Spencer Shrader’s field goal wins it, 30-27.
Week Thirteen: On a Black Friday at Arrowhead, the Chiefs seem to be controlling the Raiders. Suddenly Aidan O’Connell hits touchdown passes to Brock Bowers and Tre Tucker, and Las Vegas leads, 17-16. Wright, the third KC kicker in three weeks, puts the Chiefs back ahead, but O’Connell hits Bowers for 25 yards and has the Raiders well within field goal range….until the third down shotgun snap from Jackson Powers-Johnson comes a beat too early and hits O’Connell in the shoulder. Bolton recovers the loose ball and the Chiefs survive, 19-17.
Now this.
The Chiefs have now won 14 consecutive games decided by one score. Luck, the famous residue of design, has been wearing a red helmet, but it also helps to have a quarterback with a predatory sense of where the danger lies and where the escape routes are. At the end of Sunday’s game, Mahomes was in traffic on a third-and-seven, and he delicately flipped the ball to Travis Kelce for nine yards when seven were needed. That allowed Reid — who was ripped reflexively during his Philadelphia days for “poor time management” — to make Wright’s field goal attempt the final play of the game. He didn’t expect Wright to bounce the ball off the left upright and into the corner pocket, but the Chiefs have become pool sharks this season. You know the kind.. They’ll play any game you can name. They also bring their own cuestick.
Begrudge them while you can. Isiah Pacheco is back and ready to make up for the busted tackles he missed while hurt. DeAndre Hopkins is feeling more comfortable on the outside. The defense hasn’t gone anywhere. If precedent means anything, Reid and general manager Brent Veach will finally locate a left tackle who is something more than a pylon with feet. And there’s always Mahomes, standing underneath the high wire, ready to catch the whole team when it falls, unless it flies.
Otherwise:
L.A. Rams 44, Buffalo 42
— The red zone was a fire zone at Sofi Stadium. The Bills (10–3) went 3-for-3 there, and the Rams went 5-for-6. Joshua Karty of the Rams had the only field goal attempt, good from 22 yards. Josh Allen set an NFL record by running and passing for three touchdowns each, and there were only four punts. The difference was that the Rams had a hammerlock on time of possession (38:30) and had 42 rushing plays to Buffalo’s 17.
.— Another difference was Jacob Hummel’s blocked punt for the Rams, which Hunter Long turned into a 22-yard touchdown. With Puca Nucua scoring on a run and twice on passes, the Rams led by 17 going into the fourth quarter, but Alen drove the Bills 70 yards and 91 yards to cut the lead to three. The Rams replied with a drive that took almost seven minutes and was prolonged by Matthew Stafford’s fourth down pass to Tutu Atwell. Then Stafford connected with Nacua, who caught 12 of the 14 passes sent his way, for a 19-yard touchdown.
— There were no sacks or turnovers in the game, and the Rams (7-6) did not have a tackle for a loss. Overall, it was a bonanza for fantasy players: Kyren Williams, the Rams’ Mr. Touchdown, had 29 carries and scored twice, and Stafford went 23 for 30 for 320 yards. Allen ran for 82 yards and hit 22 of 37 for 342 yards.
Seattle 30, Arizona 18
— The Seahawks (8-5) shrugged off the unavailability of Kenneth Walker because they had Zac Charbonnet, who was a load at UCLA and Michigan and still is. Charbonnet dashed 51 yards in the second quarter to give Seattle a 24-10 lead, and the rest was routine for the NFC West leaders.
— Leonard Williams continued his fruitful season with two tackles for loss and a pass defensed, as the Seahawks hassled Kyler Murray into two interceptions. Aside from a 41-yard strike to Michael Wilson, Murray didn’t have a completion that exceeded 14 yards. The Cardinals took a playoff hit and fell to 6-7.
— Charbonnet ran for 134 yards on 22 tries, and also led Seatle with seven catches on seven targets from Geno Smith (24-for-30, 233 yards). The Seahawks have a one-game lead over the Rams and visit the Rams in the final regular-season game. L.A. has already beaten Seattle once and, on paper, has an easier remaining schedule, since the Seahawks play Green Bay and Minnesota the next two weeks.
Philadelphia 22, Carolina 16
— Saquon Barkley set the Eagles’ season rushing record in only his 13th game, getting 124 to gt to 1,607, and did it in 20 carries. But the Eagles (11-2) gained only 292 yards and needed touchdowns on all three red-zone trips to beat the Panthers (3-10). In fact, Xavier Legette dropped what would have been a go-ahead touchdown pass from Bryce Young in the end zone on Carolina’s final drive.
— The game-winning score was a four-yarder in the fourth quarter from Jalen Hurts to tight end Grant Calcaterra, who got extra chances with Dallas Goedert hurt. Calcaterra retired from football in 2019 while playing in Oklahoma, due to repeated concussions, but came back to play at SMU two years later, and the Eagles took him in the sixth round in 2022.
— Receivers A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith weren’t pleased with Hurts’ passing. He threw them 10 passes and they combined to catch eight for 80 yards, although Smith scored on a 4-yarder. Young went 19-for-34 for 191 yards on the other side, although he found Adam Thielen for 102 yards in nine catches. Josey Jewell of the Panthers has three-and-a-half sacks in his past two games.
Minnesota 42,, Atlanta 21
— Exit polls at US Bank Stadium indicated that fewer than 1 percent of Vikings fans regret the departure of quarterback Kirk Cousins. The ex-Viking threw two painful interceptions that accelerated Minnesota’s sixth consecutive win. Cousins has eight interceptions and no touchdowns in the past four games, and the Falcons have no interceptions of their own in the past five games. They fell to 6-7 and lost their NFC South lead to Tampa Bay.
— However, the most damaging turnover belonged to RayRay McCloud, as he fumbled a kickoff after the Vikings had taken a 28-21 lead. The Vikings drove 32 yards, and Sam Darnold hit Jordan Addison with a six-yard touchdown pass. It was probably the best game of Darnold’s season of redemption, in which he shrugged off four sacks and threw five TDs with no interceptions, on the way to a passer rating of 157.9.
— Addison (eight catches, 133 yards) and Justin Jefferson (seven for 132) became the first pair of receivers to snag two TDs apiece and top 125 yards in the same game. Minnesota had seven 20-yard plays in hiking its record to 11-2. The Vikings have a visit to NFL North leader Detroit in the 17th game.
Pittsburgh 27, Cleveland 14
— Nose tackle Cam Heyward, in his 14th year, is one of the NFL’s best players. He had two sacks in this Pittsburgh win and now has eight for the year, even though he’s double-teamed from the first snap of the season. He also has 19 quarterback hits and eight passes defensed.
— The Steelers (10-3) had it relatively easy, with Cleveland committing nine penalties and suffering three turnovers. Russell Wilson played it close to the vest, with no passes over 22 yards in the absence of George Pickens. The defense handled most of the rest, denying Cleveland on 11 of 13 third down plays. The Browns haven’t won in Pittsburgh since 2004 and fell to 3–10.
— Pittsburgh has double-digit wins for the seventh time in 11 seasons and are two games clear of Baltimore in the NFC North, but the schedule toughens, with trips to Philadelphia and Baltimore and a home date with Kansas City.
Tampa Bay 28, L.A. Raiders 13
— The Bucs (7-6) looked doomed in the NFC South but now they have the lead after their 3-game winning streak. Rookie Jaylen McMillan caught two touchdown passes and Rachaad White had receiving and running scores, and Baker Mayfield continued his career resurrection with 18 of 29 passing for 295 yards, although he threw two interceptions.
— The visiting Raiders (2-11) did have a chance to make the Bucs nervous after they cut the lead to 14-10 at halftime and took the second-half kickoff. Aidan O’Connell drove them to the Tampa Bay 10, but was intercepted by Tykee Smith. It was still 14-10 when O’Connell, on a third-and-10 near midfield, suffered a serious knee injury on a hit from Calijah Kancey. He left in favor of Desmond Ridder, but Tampa Bay didn’t expand the lead until early in the fourth quarter, when Sean Tucker dashed 34 yards out of the shotgun and set up White’s 3-yard touchdown run.
— Tampa Bay held rookie Brock Bowers to only three catches, although he got his 87th catch to break the record for first-year tight ends. On the Vegas side, Amari Burney administered a sack-fumble to Mayfield that set up a Raiders’ touchdown, and rookie Sincere McCormick had a strong 78-yard rushing day.
Miami 32, N.Y. Jets 26 OT
— Tight end Jonnu Smith has settled nicely in Miami, and he was one of several Dolphins who nailed down this difficult, crucial win. On the overtime drive that won it, Smith caught passes of 20 and 14 yards from Tua Tagovailoa, then took the 10-yard TD pass that boosted Miami to 6–7. Another major contributor was Zach Sieler, a former 7th-round pick of Baltimore from Ferris State, who sacked Aaron Rodgers twice in the fourth quarter. The first one stopped a drive when the Jets were up 23-15, and the second happened with 1:10 to go and limited the Jets to a field goal that got them ahead 26-23.
— Then Malik Washington, a sixth-round rookie who had 110 catches at Virginia last year, returned the kickoff 45 yards, meaning that Tagovailoa only had to complete two passes to get Jason Sanders within range for a game-tying 52-yard field goal.
-– Rodgers was excellent, completing 27 of 39 for 339 yards, 223 of which went to Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams in 16 receptions. Tagovailoa hit 33 of his 47 passes for 331 yards. Neither was intercepted. The Jets fell to 3-10 and the Dolphins stayed within hoping distance of a wild-card spot.
San Francisco 38, Chicago 13
The 49ers (5-7) had four touchdowns before the Bears had their second first down. They sacked Caleb Williams seven times, three of them by Jetur Gross-Matos, and got a 20-for-25 day from Brock Purdy. And they were still missing Nick Bosa, Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams and Aaron Banks. In sinking to 4-9, the Bears’ longest play of the day was 17 yards. And, for once, Matt Eberflus was blameless.
Cincinnati 27, Dallas 20
Joe Burrow’s brilliance finally overcame the circumstances around him. He was 33 for 44 for 369 yards for three touchdowns, bringing his TD total to 18 over the past five games, three of which Cincinnati lost. This time the Bengals were tied 20-20 when Dallas blocked a punt, but it bounced off Dallas’ Amani Oruwariye and became a live ball, recovered by Naema Ojongmeta of the Bengals. Burrow followed it up with a 40-yard TD to Ja’Marr Chase, who caught seven for 144 yards.
New Orleans 14, N.Y. Giants 11
Graham Gano had a field goal blocked by Brian Bresee at the end, dropping the Giants to 2-11. On Oct. 6 the Giants won in Seattle and improved their record to 2-3. They haven’t won since. They lost this one despite making 13 tackles for loss, five by linebacker Micah McFadden. The Saints are 5-8 and only two games out of the NFC South lead, and interim coach Darren Rizzi is 3–1. Quarterback Derek Carr left the game late with an injured hand, however.
Jacksonville 10, Tennessee 6
The only TD drive of the day was an 82-yarder in the fourth quarter, supervised by Mac Jones, who was replacing Trevor Lawrence. He hit rookie Brian Thomas Jr. three times, including a 31-yarder that got the Jaguars to the Tennessee 12, then gave the ball to Tank Bigsby for two runs and the score. Jones was 23 for 31, and Thomas caught eight for 86 yards. The Titans had a drive from their own eight to Jacksonville’s two in the second quarter, but it died with three incompletions by Will Levis, as head coach Brian Callahan passed up a field goal. Both juggernauts are 3-10.