K.C. Super Bowlbound after 50 years
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With his best imitation of a tightrope walker, Patrick Mahomes highwired the Kansas City Chiefs into their first Super Bowl in a halfcentury.
Sure, Mahomes did his usual superb job passing, but it was his 27yard 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 back Derrick Henry for a 3524 victory Sunday in the AFC championship.
At last, for the first time since January 1970 and the third time overall, the Chiefs are Super Bowlbound.
In two weeks in Miami, they will play the 49ers, who beat Green
Bay 3720 in the NFC title game.
“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, head coach Andy Reid and owner Clark Hunt accepted the Lamar Hunt Trophy — named after his father — emblematic of the AFC title. It was handed to them by Chiefs Hall of Famer Bobby Bell, with Mahomes and safety Tyrann Mathieu jumping for joy on the makeshift stage.
Next up: chasing the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
“Chiefs Kingdom, we are going to the Super Bowl,” Hunt said.
“It’s awesome,” Reid said, asking the crowd to chant “How about those Chiefs?”
The Chiefs lost in the very first Super Bowl, 3510 to the Green Bay Packers. But three years later, K.C. beat Minnesota 237 behind Len Dawson, Otis Taylor and animated head coach Hank Stram famously urging his team to “keep matriculating the ball down the field, boys!”
As they had done in their past three “elimination” games, the sixthseeded Titans 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. Henry was held to 7 yards rushing in the second half.
“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.”
A week after they overcame a 240 deficit against Houston, the Chiefs had to rally again.
Down 100 and 177, Kansas City didn’t flinch, building a 3517 lead while controlling the clock with a strong ground game. Naturally, Mahomes complemented that with sharp passing, spreading the ball on short and deep throws. The key moment came with a 60yard completion to Watkins for the Chiefs’ 28th straight point midway in the final period.
Mahomes thrust both arms in the air as the crowd sang “I Want to Dance With Somebody.” That somebody will be the 49ers in two weeks.
After taking a 30 lead on Greg Joseph’s first field goal — with Tennessee’s penchant for scoring in the red zone, he hadn’t been called upon in his previous four games with the team — the Titans got a huge break. Bashaud Breeland appeared to make a diving interception, but replay review showed the ball hitting the ground.
Helped by consecutive offside penalties and a a fourthdown pass to Adam Humphries for his first career playoff reception, the Titans converted on, what else, Henry’s 4yard run.
Then the Chiefs got rolling, scoring on three successive series. Hill took it in on a shovel pass, later beat top Tennessee cornerback Logan Ryan for a 20yard reception, and Mahomes finished the half with his brilliant jaunt down the left sideline with half the Titans’ defense seemingly expecting him to step out of bounds.
That gave the Chiefs a 2117 lead. It went to 2817 on Williams’ 3yard run to cap a sevenminute 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.
“That’s what we were able to do coming in,” Tennessee head coach
Mike Vrabel said of his team’s running game entering the AFC title game.
“We weren’t (able to do that against KC). I felt we competed all the way there until the end. We got a stop, the offense gets the ball back and they fought. You don’t prepare these types of speeches to talk to the team about at the end of the season or to talk to you guys (reporters) about the end of the season. That’s where we’re at.”
The Chiefs easily outrushed the Titans on Sunday. Mahomes had 53 of those yards and also was 23for35 for 294 yards passing.