KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Confetti falling at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium is becoming an annual occurrence come January. Some fans might have Kansas City Chiefs fatigue, but everyone is witnessing greatness in No. 15. What Patrick Mahomes already has accomplished in his first eight seasons is unprecedented.
Mahomes and the Chiefs are on their way to Super Bowl 59 after they defeated the Buffalo Bills, 32-29, in a back-and-forth AFC championship game. It’s the fifth time that Mahomes has led the Chiefs to the Super Bowl since the 2019 season.
Great quarterbacks do whatever it takes to win the game — and Mahomes was masterful in achieving just that to defeat Josh Allen and the Bills in the postseason for the fourth time in his career.
“Man, you got to get a ball to 15. Put it in his hands, put the game in his hands. He’s gonna make the best decision. He’s gonna find the open guy or he’s gonna run it,” Chiefs wide receiver Hollywood Brown said to USA TODAY Sports. “He’s gonna go down as the greatest to do it. I mean, it’s just a blessing to be a part of.”
Mahomes completed 18-of-26 passes for 245 yards and one touchdown. It was an efficient game throwing the football. The Bills played a lot of man coverage and put extra attention on his favorite target, tight end Travis Kelce. But the damage Mahomes caused with his feet is what hurt Buffalo. Mahomes was a better dual-threat quarterback than Allen, who came into the playoff contest with 65 career regular-season rushing touchdowns.
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The Chiefs (dual-threat) quarterback rushed 11 times for 43 yards and two touchdowns.
“They always give me options to kind of pull the ball and run it. And they were playing man coverage a lot of the day, and they were putting a lot of attention on Travis Kelce. So with them kind of pushing that safety, pushing that linebacker to Travis, it opened up different lanes for me to run,” Mahomes said. “I pulled some of those, those reads that I’ve had all season long, just because it’s playoffs, and you have to make sure that the defense is true to what their rules are.”
Mahomes’ legs caused the Bills defense fits. His two rushing TDs are a single-game playoff-high for the QB. He made came up with the big plays when it mattered most, including a 17-yard pass to running back Samaje Perine that allowed the Chiefs to stamp their ticket to New Orleans for Super Bowl 59.
“Pat Mahomes was phenomenal,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
The Chiefs are now the fourth team to reach three consecutive Super Bowls. They have an opportunity to be the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls.
“When you think of all the ups and downs and arounds that you’ve been through in a season, the injuries. All those things that have to just happen the right way. With the margin to win and or to lose in this league is so small,” Reid said. “The parity is unbelievable.”
Parity is unbelievable. A total of 141 regular-season games were decided by seven-or-fewer points this year. The Chiefs just so happen to have the ultimate difference-maker at football’s most influential position, which was evident in the AFC championship game.
Mahomes now has two NFL MVPs, five AFC championships, three Super Bowl titles, three Super Bowl MVPs and 17 postseason wins, the second-most ever by an NFL quarterback. All before his 30th birthday. One more playoff win this season and the 29-year-old quarterback will be a four-time Super Bowl champion.
And he’ll be less than halfway to Tom Brady’s record of 35 career postseason wins.
“It’s obviously really cool. That’s your goal is to win in the postseason. I’ve been blessed being on a lot of great football teams, a lot of great coaches, just a great organization,” Mahomes said. “I just try to maximize every moment, because you never know what’s gonna be your last one. I know I’m a long way from Tom, so I’ll try to do whatever I can to get close to that.”
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