Going Sixty With Me Playoff Style-Hold on For Dear Life
One day after the conditions would have been pretty dreadful for football, it is a pretty nice winter day at Arrowhead Stadium, and that fits going in, as the fans should feel great about the long yearned for prospect of reaching a Super Bowl. But perhaps the almost universal swagger that the fans base was feeling about the game with the Texans got the slightest of interjections of trepidation because EVERYTHING has been breaking the Chiefs way.
The Chiefs nabbed the bye and the second seed because the Patriots fell in almost incomprehensible fashion to the Dolphins. Then the Pats doubled down and fell to the Titans, and ding dong the witch was dead. And then on the even of the Chiefs playoff opener, the Titans served up the chance to play the AFC championship game at Arrowhead next week by dominating the Ravens.
But every Chiefs fan knows all so well the litany of playoff disasters that have befallen the franchise, and more than a couple of those have come right on their home field as a favorite, and here they are again, the oddsmakers choice by almost ten points against the Texans, who actually did beat the Chiefs earlier this year in Kansas City, but certainly don’t seem very well equipped to repeat it.
Houston starts off by doing something extremely rare in the NFL, winning the toss and NOT deferring, desiring the football and perhaps the chance to grab some early momentum, and quiet the raucous crowd. The Chiefs line up without Chris Jones, inactive with a calf injury that raised questions Andy Reid had no desire to comment on with his testiness doing nothing to quell speculation as to how Jones suffered the injury.
Mission accomplished for the Texans. On third and one on their second series, the Chiefs entire defense bites on a bubble screen to Will Fuller, and Kenny Stills is open by fifteen years for a touchdown and some early heat on the Chiefs. The tension goes up a tick on a third down drop by Travis Kelce (so good, but does that far too often), and that becomes monstrous and throws Arrowhead into an angst ridden place when a blocked punt is trotted into the end zone by Lonnie Johnson Jr. OMG WTF 14-0.
If the Chiefs aren’t tight, they aren’t acting like it. The Chiefs next drive ends after a promising start on yet another third down drop on a certain conversion, this one by Demarcus Robinson. A scenario that couldn’t have been more of a dream going in, is being followed by seven minutes of the worst football you could roll out. Could it get worse…..uh huh. Tyreek Hill inexplicably doesn’t call a fair catch at the five, then fumbles a punt, and two plays later the Texans are on the end zone again. It’s a staggering 21-0.
The Chiefs actually are managing to get worse. The next series features yet another drop, and after the Chiefs punt, the Texans are soon back in their territory, and the only good news is that only one quarter is in the books. But the early part of the second quarter only brings another score by the Texans. Bill O’Brien spurns a fourth and one, down deep and goes for the field goal, which I think is the right move. 24-0.
Finally, finally…the Chiefs make a play when Hardman takes the ensuing kickoff 53 yards, and in lightning fashion the Chiefs are in the end zone on a Mahomes to Damien Williams TD pass. There is still a long way to go in two different ways in the middle of the second quarter with the tally 24-7.
Big plays now are going back to the Chiefs, they stop the Texans on a three and out, and then Daniel Sorenson makes a gigantic play by making a solo tackle in completely open space on a fake punt, and the Chiefs strike quickly again on Mahomes to Kelce, and it really is back to a normal football game at 24-14. And three minutes of Kansas City football that will never be forgotten if the Chiefs actually win this game continues as the ensuing kickoff is fumbled right into the Chiefs hands, setting up yet another Mahomes to Kelce touchdown, and in perhaps the most incredible swap of momentum I have ever seen, a Chiefs team that was as wretched as could be was more than alive. 24-21.
The beautiful madness continued as a first half of football that had to be seen to be believed (I’m trying to do my best) as Patrick Mahomes leads a lightning 95 yard drive, and the Chiefs, actually, really, truly, lead this remarkable game 28-24. Stunningly, there are still thirty minutes of football left.
The second half began as you might have expected. The twelve minutes of halftime did nothing to blunt the hurricane of emotion and momentum. The Chiefs waltz down the field, much of it on scrambles by Mahomes and Damien Williams joins the fun. A tiny fly in an ocean of ointment comes with a mixed extra point, and it’s 34-24.
The Texans are pretty much toast right now. The SIXTH straight touchdown drive is about as easy peasy as the one before it. The Chiefs have actually succeeded in turning a game in which they played a quarter as bad as if a poor high school team had taken the field, have turned the game into an absolute blowout. The Texans later try and show some fight, but the dye has been cast. There is a soccer saying that someone is scoring just for fun, and that’s doing what the Chiefs are doing on every possession.
Remarkably, the final score of the game, 51-31 was somewhat of an afterthought.
The Chiefs served up their fans an emotional bait and switch, punching them in the downtown business district with a dreadful first quarter, and then providing a memory of a lifetime. It’s the kind of game that is part of a championship tale. But the highlight is only one third filmed.
Chapter two of the dream trilogy is next week….at Arrowhead….with the Lamar Hunt Trophy in the stadium for the second straight year. Seems about time to put one in a nearby trophy case.