Potent offense, stifling ‘D’ meet in Miami
Chiefs hoist Hunt Trophy behind brilliance of young QB Mahomes
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Arrowhead Stadium rocked to Whitney Houston’s “I Want To Dance With Somebody.‘‘ Kansas City fans’ halfcentury wait to boogie in the Super Bowl is over — in great part due to their quarterback’s magical feet, not to mention his majestic arm.
With his best imitation of a tightrope walker, Patrick Mahomes high-wired the Chiefs into their first Super Bowl since 1970.
Oh sure, Mahomes did his usual superb job passing, but it was his 27-yard tap dance down the left sideline late in the first half that gave the Chiefs their first lead. From there, they outran the runoriented Titans and star back Derrick Henry for a 35-24 victory Sunday in the AFC championship.
At last, for the third time overall, the Chiefs (14-4) are Super Bowl bound.
In two weeks in Miami, they will play the San Francisco 49ers.
“I mean, it’s amazing. It really is,” Mahomes said. “To be here, to be a part of Chiefs Kingdom and to be able to do it here at Arrowhead,
these people deserve it. And, we’re not done yet.”
Adding to the joy of the achievement, coach Andy Reid and owner Clark Hunt accepted the Lamar Hunt Trophy — named after his father — emblematic of the AFC title.
Next up: chasing the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The Chiefs lost in 1967 in the first AFL-NFL Championship Game — nope, it wasn’t called the Super Bowl yet — to the Lombardi Packers 35-10. Three years later Kansas City was back. This time, it was known as the Super Bowl — indeed, Lamar Hunt is credited with coming up with the name — and his Chiefs hammered Minnesota 23-7 with the typical Wild West offensive flair and a staunch defense. Those are characteristics that helped carry KC this season.
There will be plenty of partying on South Beach for
Chiefs Kingdom heading into the championship matchup.
“Fired up to go to Miami, got to get on a diet so I can fit into my clothes,” Reid said. “Very proud.”
As they had done in their past three “elimination‘‘ games, the sixth-seeded Titans (11-8) got started quickly. The difference at Arrowhead as opposed to Houston, New England and Baltimore was that the Chiefs had Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins and Damien Williams on offense, and a vastly upgraded defense from when they lost in last year’s AFC title game.
“They were doubling all these guys,‘‘ Mahomes said of his spectacular TD run on which he barely stayed in bounds.
“I just ran it and got some good blocking at the end and found a way to get in the end zone.‘‘
A week after they overcame a 24-0 deficit against Houston, the Chiefs had to rally again.
Down 10-0 and 17-7, Kansas City didn’t flinch, building a 35-17 lead while controlling the clock with a strong ground game. The dagger came with a 60-yard completion to Watkins for the Chiefs’ 28th straight point midway in the final period.
The Chiefs got rolling, scoring on three successive series. Hill took it in on a shovel pass, later beat top Titans cornerback Logan Ryan for a 20-yard reception, and Mahomes finished the half with his brilliant jaunt down the left sideline with half the Tennessee defense seemingly expecting him to step out of bounds.
That gave the Chiefs a 2117 lead. It went to 28-17 on Williams’ 3-yard run to cap a seven-minute drive. Then Watkins toasted Logan for the clinching long pass.
Henry was held to 69 yards on 19 carries after rushing for 588 yards in the past three games as an unstoppable force.