» CHIEFS THUMP RAIDERS IN REGULAR-SEASON FINALE
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As stadium cameras found Patrick Mahomes taking a seat on the bench midway through the third quarter of the Chiefs’ 35-3 win, the chatter in the crowd unified, nearly reaching a fever pitch.
M-V-P! M-V-P!
Moments earlier, Mahomes put an exclamation point on his MVP campaign, finding wide receiver Demarcus Robinson for an 89-yard score — his 50th touchdown throw of the season. He also eclipsed 5,000 passing yards in the process.
As Robinson backpedaled into the end zone, Mahomes embraced lineman Mitchell Schwartz to celebrate the achievement.
With the score, Mahomes (14 of 24, 281 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) became just the third quarterback in NFL history to reach 50 touchdowns throws in a single season.
Not bad for a first-year starter. Not bad at all.
The official MVP votes haven’t been cast, but this much is clear: Thanks to Sunday’s win against the Raiders, the Chiefs (12-4) will enter the postseason with the No. 1 seed, homefield advantage, a first-round bye and quite possibly the league’s soon-to-be crowned Most Valuable Player.
Kansas City will also begin the playoff race with two of the most prolific offensive weapons in franchise history. Both Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce set records in Sunday night’s win. With his 67-yard touchdown reception on the opening drive, Hill set a Chiefs record for singleseason receiving yards (1,445), eclipsing Derrick Alexander’s mark of 1,391 set in 2000.
Kelce had to wait until the fourth quarter to get his record, picking up his 103rd reception of the season on a 25yard strike from Mahomes. With that, he broke Tony Gonzalez’s record of 102 receptions in a season, set in 2004. And he broke the single-season mark for receiving yards by a tight end, passing Rob Gronkowski’s mark of 1,327 with the New England Patriots, set in 2011.
And on an evening in which the Chiefs hurdled multiple offensive benchmarks, the defense provided the foundation for a blowout win and the clinching of the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
The first four Raiders possessions ended in turnovers, including a 54-yard pick6 by safety Dan Sorensen on the Raiders’ second drive. The turnover ended Oakland quarterback Derek Carr’s lengthy interception-less streak.
The defense, usually so maligned, feasted on the Raiders beginning with Oakland’s first possession. That one, which lasted just four plays, ended when defensive lineman Allen Bailey stripped the ball from running back Doug Martin and deftly recovered the fumble. Though Bailey’s heads-up play gave the offense the ball at the Raiders’ 45, the Chiefs gave the ball back just three plays later as the offense stalled out.