Mahomes’ 5 TDs power rout
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs were going nowhere on offense against Pittsburgh early Sunday night, so coach Andy Reid had wide receiver Mecole Hardman take a shotgun snap and hand off to running back Darrel Williams on a trick play.
Their exchange hit the ground, T.J. Watt picked it up and returned the fumble for a touchdown.
It was precisely the kind of play that should have energized the heavy underdogs, playing in a tough environment on the road, but it wound up doing something else entirely: It ticked off Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
He proceeded to throw for 404 yards and five scores, leading Kansas City to the end zone on six straight possessions after the turnover as the Chiefs cruised through the second half for a 42-21 AFC wild-card victory over the Steelers.
“We were all pissed at ourselves,” Mahomes said. “We weren’t playing with enough energy. We weren’t playing at a high enough level. We all motivated ourselves. Everyone was talking to each other, and we came out with a different urgency.”
Byron Pringle caught touchdown passes from both Mahomes and Kelce, and Jerick McKinnon and Tyreek Hill also had scoring catches, while the Chiefs (13-5) shut down the retiring Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense.
The performance not only sent Kansas City into the divisional round of the playoffs, it also turned next Sunday night’s game against Buffalo — a rematch of last year’s AFC title game — into appointment viewing. The Bills had a similarly easy time with their 47-17 victory over New England on Saturday.
“When you’ve been to the Super Bowl the last two years and you walk off that field with a loss last year, you want to go back and get that revenge, get that win,” Mahomes said. “We have the Bills coming here this next week, and we’re going to have to play our best football.”
Roethlisberger, who acknowledged the Steelers (98-1) were “not a very good football team” this week, wasn’t very good in his own right. The 39-year-old quarterback was 29-of-44 for 215 yards with two meaningless TD passes late in the game, providing the coda to a career that includes six Pro Bowl trips and two Super Bowl wins.
“I mean, we lost. It stinks. But when you get to the tournament, only one team is going to end the season the way you want,” Roethlisberger said. “I’m proud of the way our guys fought tonight.”
Judging by the final score, you would never guess the first quarter was all about defense: The Steelers ran 14 plays and went 12 yards, while the Chiefs had more punt return yards (70) than they had from scrimmage (62).
Made sense that the first points would be scored on defense, too.
After the Steelers punted for a fifth straight time, the Chiefs inexplicably had Hardman take a snap rather than their four-time Pro Bowl quarterback. Williams bobbled the exchange, Watt grabbed the fumble and Pittsburgh had a 7-0 lead. It didn’t last long. Mahomes responded by completing his next six passes, capping a 76-yard drive with a nifty underhand flick to McKinnon that tied it. Then the brilliant young quarterback found Pringle in the corner of the end zone for a score and he put an exclamation mark on the half by hitting Kelce with a 48yard touchdown strike.
In the span of less than six minutes, Mahomes and the Chiefs had turned a sevenpoint deficit into a 21-7 lead.
It wasn’t quite the 23-0 halftime advantage the Chiefs had in their December blowout of the Steelers, but it sure felt that way. Roethlisberger was 5-of-14 for 24 yards in the first half, and Pittsburgh had 55 yards of total offense.
Not much of a retirement party if Roethlisberger indeed calls it quits.
As for the Chiefs, their celebration started in earnest after Mahomes led them on another touchdown drive to start the second half. The game was such a laugher by that point that when Hill was ruled down just shy of the goal line, Mahomes simply threw his next pass on thirdand-goal to offensive tackle Nick Allegretti for the score.
Hill got his touchdown catch eventually. It came after Steelers rookie Najee Harris lost a fumble for the first time all season.