How the Chiefs took the aggressive Panthers’ best shots and survived to improve to 8-1
The Chiefs’ public statements all week expressed respect for the Carolina Panthers.
But when doesn’t that happen? Coaches and players rarely question the ability of an opponent — certainly not with anyone within earshot. But the cold facts included these: Carolina was a 3-5 team on the road at Arrowhead Stadium, and Kansas City was a double-digit favorite.
Maybe next time the Chiefs will have some takers.
More than any opponent they’ve faced this season, the Panthers on Sunday worked outside the book of conventional wisdom.
They kept their offense on the field when a field goal would have been the safe play. They attempted an onside kick and gambled on a fourth-and-14 when the risk/reward balance probably wasn’t in their favor.
And most of their gambles worked. But not quite well enough, as the Chiefs held on for a 33-31 victory.
They watched a 67-yard field goal attempt by Joey Slye sail off to the right on the game’s final snap.
“We came here to win. We didn’t get it done,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “We’ll head back to Charlotte and we’ll continue to work.”
The game turned out to be a grinder because of every big decision made by Rhule, who spent the previous three years at Baylor.
It started with the coin toss. Carolina won the flip and took the ball instead of deferring until the second half. A confident Panthers offense chewed nearly nine minutes off the clock and scored on a fourth-and-3 pass from Teddy Bridgewater to Christian McCaffrey from the 9.
Field goals weren’t going to beat the high-flying Chiefs, Rhule decided. Neither would surrendering possessions. That explains the Panthers’ fake punt on their second possession. A completion by punter Joseph Charlton set up Carolina’s next touchdown and made it a 14-3 game.
Then the stunned Chiefs came to life. Three of Patrick Mahomes’ four touchdown passes were delivered on successive second-half possessions, with one of them set up by a short field when Carolina attempted an onside kick trailing 26-24 with 10 1/2 minutes left.
That play occurred a few snaps after Carolina decided to go for a fourth-and-14 from Chiefs’ 46, trailing by nine. Plenty of time remained and the Panthers could have played the field-position game. But no. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater left the pocket and wasn’t tackled until he had gained 15 yards.
Asked after the game if the Chiefs, the Super Bowl champions who are ahead of their 2019 regular-season pace now, should expect this type of aggressive approach by more opponents, Reid was emphatic.
“Absolutely,” Reid said. “I do expect that ... (T)his is a good football team. They’re well coached and have good talent. Their future is bright. We knew we’d have our hands full today.
“I was proud of the guys for bearing down.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 4:58 PM.