Chiefs hold off Browns, keep hopes alive
Bucs set up showdown with Packers
KANSAS CITY, Missouri, Jan 18, (AP): The Kansas City Chiefs had lost Patrick Mahomes to a concussion and were in danger of losing the game.
Then their defense and Chad Henne - their defense and Chad Henne?! - along with a gutsy call by Andy Reid kept their hopes of a Super Bowl repeat alive, holding off the Cleveland Browns 22-17 on Sunday to advance to their third straight AFC championship game.
With their star quarterback reduced to a spectator, the oft-forgotten bunch opposite Mahomes’ high-powered offense forced the Browns to punt in the waning minutes. Then, his 35-yearold backup showed some moxie with a 13-yard third-down scramble and audacious fourth-down completion to Tyreek Hill - when go-for-broke Reid decided to go for it - that gave the Chiefs (15-2) a first down with just over a minute left and allowed them to run out the clock.
Mahomes hadn’t played in 21 days, since the Chiefs clinched the AFC’s top seed in Week 16, but he hardly missed a beat before leaving midway through the third quarter. He finished 21 of 30 for 255 yards and a TD, and ran for another score.
Harrison Butker added three field goals for the Chiefs, who nearly blew a 19-3 lead but survived to become the first AFC team to host three consecutive conference title games. They’ll face the Buffalo Bills next Sunday.
“It stings,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “We came here to win and didn’t get the job done. There is a finality to that.”
Baker Mayfield threw for 204 yards with a touchdown and a pick for the Browns (12-6), who were coming off their first playoff win since the 1994 season. But their inability to drive for the winning touchdown - they punted with 4:23 left in the game - and defensive letdown kept them from winning two playoff games in a season for the first time since 1950.
Mahomes completed 11 of his first 12 passes and led the Chiefs to backto-back touchdowns to start the game. He ran for the first and let Travis Kelce turn a dump-off into a 20-yard catch for the other, making him the first player since the 49ers’ Steve Young in 1995 with three straight playoff games with TDs on the ground and through the air.
FOOTBALL
In fact, Mahomes was so sharp passing in the first half that he even completed a celebratory heave to a lucky fan in the far reaches of Arrowhead Stadium’s upper deck following his touchdown jaunt.
After the teams swapped field goals, with Butker breaking the Chiefs playoff record with a 50-yarder into the wind, the Browns marched for what could have been a momentum-swinging score heading into halftime. But just when Rashard Higgins tried to stretch over the goal line, the Chiefs’ Daniel Sorensen arrived to deliver a hit, popping the ball into the end zone for a touchback - the call stood after a video review.
The entire complexion of the game changed early in the third quarter, though.
First, the Browns held the Chiefs when Mayfield threw an interception and Butker missed a field goal. Then, Mayfield led them briskly the other way, capping a 77-yard drive with a TD throw to Jarvis Landry. And finally, roughly 17,000 fans allowed in the stadium due to pandemic were left sitting in stunned silence when Mahomes was tackled around the head with 7:27 left in the quarter and left crumpled on the turf near midfield.
Mahomes, already hobbled by a foot injury, stumbled as he tried to get to his feet. He was eventually helped to the blue tent on the sideline, then ran to the locker room, where he was evaluated for a concussion.
The momentum finally turned, the Browns began to lean heavily on their vaunted run game, which had produced just 18 yards in the first half. Nick Chubb converted on fourth down with a hard run, then Hunt followed another fourth-down conversion on the same drive by hitting the end zone against his former team to make it 2217 with 11:07 to go.
It remained with Cleveland when Karl Joseph picked off Henne in the end zone a few minutes later, but the Chiefs stuffed Chubb on first down, forced an incompletion and ultimately made Cleveland punt.
Henne’s gutsy scramble and Reid’s equally daring fourth-down call kept the Browns from having another chance.
Tom Brady will take on Aaron Rodgers in a matchup of quarterback legends in the NFC title game.
An enticing final four in the NFL was set up Sunday when Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New Orleans Saints 30-20
Brady threw two TD passes and relied on his defense to make it to his 14th conference title game and first since joining Tampa Bay (13-5) in the offseason.
Brady will be the fourth quarterback to start in conference title games in both the NFC and AFC with his boyhood hero Joe Montana the most recent to do it.
The Bucs will visit Green Bay on Sunday to take on Rodgers and the
Packers (14-3). Tampa Bay won the regular-season matchup 38-10 in Week 6.
“It’s great for our team,” Brady said. “We worked hard to get to this point. Two road playoff wins is pretty sweet.
“We’ve got to go beat a great football team we know pretty well. Aaron’s playing incredible, and we’re going to have to play great to beat them.”
Drew Brees threw three interceptions in what could be his final game before a possible retirement. This is the third straight season the Saints have been eliminated with a home playoff loss.