Relive five of quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs’ best moments with NFL+
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Still just 28 years old, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes already possesses a Hall of Fame resume that trumps those of his contemporaries.
He’s a three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, with two Associated Press MVP awards and a Pro Bowl bid for each of his six seasons as a starter. He’s reached the AFC Championship Game in every one of those campaigns and represented his conference in the Super Bowl during 66% of the seasons in which he’s served as Kansas City’s QB1.
Including playoffs, he has an 89-25 record with 33,559 passing yards and 277 total touchdowns. He’s accounted for five-plus scores in a game nine times and has led 21 game-winning drives thus far in his career.
To sustain such success, Mahomes has delivered many a jaw-dropping performance.
From his beginnings to his most recent Lombardi Trophy, five of those outings stand above the rest, all of which can be revisited on NFL+ as Mahomes and the Chiefs continue gearing up for mission three-peat in the season ahead.
1) Mahomes drives Chiefs to repeat in Super Bowl LVIII
His latest triumph was also his greatest. The Chiefs and 49ers’ rematch of Super Bowl LIV, four years in the making, was a defensive struggle for most of regulation. Trailing, 19-16, with 1:53 remaining, Mahomes marched 64 yards on 10 plays, converting two third downs to set up a 29-yard game-tying field goal. When the 49ers took the ball first in overtime and settled for a field goal, it felt as if their go-ahead score was instead a white flag. The first QB ever to lead a Super Bowl drive while trailing in OT, Mahomes further cemented his legendary status with a 75-yard march to a ring, his longest drive of the night. The ball didn’t touch the ground on any of his eight pass attempts. He converted a fourth-and-1 with an 8-yard scramble, and shortly after handled a third-and-1 by running through San Francisco’s D for 19 more. Mahomes’ game-winning TD pass to Mecole Hardman three snaps later gave him 333 passing yards and 66 rushing yards on the night — both his most across four Super Bowl appearances. Throughout the Chiefs’ most trying season in years, their defense gave them a chance to become repeat champions. By the end of a most arduous battle, Mahomes is the one that made them so.
2) Texans (and the rest of the NFL) find out no lead is safe
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A quick glance at the final score of the 2019 AFC Divisional Round showdown between the Chiefs and Texans suggests a dominant blowout. Kansas City won by 20 behind Mahomes’ immaculate five-touchdown, 321-yard performance. The game itself was a different story — one of a near-instant comeback that set Houston back years. The Texans roared out of the gate, and after 19 minutes held a 24-0 lead over the favored Chiefs. Impossibly, Houston would fall behind before halftime. Mahomes rolled with the punches and delivered his own in the form of seven straight touchdowns starting from his first drive of the second quarter to his first drive of the fourth. As Houston cratered, Mahomes capitalized, throwing a 17-yard pass to running back Damien Williams to open the scoring before finding pay dirt three straight times with Travis Kelce. In all, Mahomes and Co. scored 41 unanswered. The Texans failed to surpass four wins in any of the next three seasons. Meanwhile, the Chiefs had just introduced their theme for the rest of those playoffs. Mahomes scored 28 unanswered against the Titans from 10 back to steal the AFC Championship Game, then erased another 10-point deficit with 21 straight fourth-quarter points against the 49ers to win his first Super Bowl.
3) Chiefs-Bills instant classic forces OT rule change
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Fast forward through the first 58 minutes of the 2021 AFC Divisional Round between the Chiefs and Bills, and you’ll still get to watch 31 points scored. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen took the lead on the first play out of the two-minute warning, striking on a 27-yarder and converting the ensuing two-point conversion to make it 29-26. The concern was Mahomes had too much time, something he took 52 seconds to prove. On second-and-10 from his own 36-yard line, the QB roped a ball through midfield traffic to WR Tyreek Hill, who jetted the rest of the way to help put K.C. back up by four. The Bills miraculously responded with their own 75-yard drive in 49 seconds to wrest back a 36-33 lead. Only 13 ticks remained. Surely, this time, it had to be the dagger. Instead, Mahomes used two timeouts and two throws to eke 44 yards out of the next 10 seconds, which allowed Harrison Butker to send the game to overtime on a 49-yard kick. The Chiefs received the ball, and in eight plays it was over on a Kelce TD catch. Mahomes went 6 of 6 for 69 yards on the final possession. He finished with 378 passing yards, 69 rushing yards and four TDs. Two months later, the NFL passed a rule ensuring each team receives at least one possession during postseason overtime games.
4) Mahomes retakes bragging rights from Cincinnati
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The Bengals had won three straight head-to-head meetings entering the 2022 AFC Championship Game — including the previous year’s battle at the same stage, a victory that sent Cincinnati to the Super Bowl in Kansas City’s usual place. Mahomes threw for 326 yards and played well for stretches of the rematch, but he was noticeably missing some of his typical magic after suffering a high ankle sprain the previous week. Forced to stay in the pocket, Mahomes handled a stingy Cincy defense through most of three quarters, throwing two scores to open up a 20-13 lead — one made more precarious when a Sam Hubbard strip sack on Mahomes allowed the Bengals to knot things up on the other side of the frame. The score held through the next 13 minutes until Mahomes received his final chance to avoid OT with 30 seconds remaining from his own 47-yard line. Faced with a third-and-4, having advanced six yards to the opposite 47, Mahomes scrambled for 5 and a first before getting a free 15 when linebacker Joseph Ossai tackled him out of bounds. That set up a successful 45-yard kick to win. It was far from his most electric performance, but Mahomes, who gutted out just 8 rushing yards total, persevered to continue his legacy-defining run.
5) Week 2, 2018: Back to where it all began
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If Mahomes’ first start of his inaugural 2018 season as the Chiefs’ QB1 raised some eyebrows, his encore furrowed those of defensive coordinators in a level of concern that hasn’t yet passed. Coming off a four-TD day to open the season against the Chargers, Mahomes dismantled the Steelers similarly. He threw touchdowns of 15, 19 and 5 yards to Chris Conley, Kelce and Kareem Hunt, respectively, on his three first-quarter drives to open up a 21-0 lead. He cooled off only momentarily to watch Ben Roethlisberger respond with three consecutive TD drives in the following frame. But he became untouchable again in due time, as he led consecutive scoring drives of 75, 75 and 65 yards out of halftime through the beginning of the fourth quarter. His 42 points were enough to outlast Pittsburgh’s 37. Mahomes finished 23 of 28 for 326 yards and six touchdowns to introduce himself to the world with 10 TD passes through the campaign’s first two games. His 154.8 passer rating, still the highest in his career, served as a precursor for all the herculean efforts to come.
