SUPER BOWL-BOUND: Five things that stood out about Chiefs’ win over Ravens
The most up-and-down Chiefs season of the Patrick Mahomes Era will conclude where three others already have.
In the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs are headed to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in six seasons after a 17-10 victory against the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.
Upset victory, I guess I should say.
The Chiefs won a second straight road game, with some offensive firepower in the first half and a defense that returned to form, to advance to Las Vegas. They’ll play the San Francisco 49ers in a rematch of Super Bowl LIV, after the Niners beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 in Sunday night’s NFC Championship Game.
We’ll have plenty of time to digest what’s next. For now, here are five observations from immediately after the game:
1. Defense wins
The Chiefs took a tougher path to the Super Bowl than they ever have.
But they also took an unconventional one: on the backs of their defense.
Mahomes dominated the first half — and particularly the first quarter — but the defense dominated all four quarters.
Same as they have all season.
They turned last week’s blip against the Bills into just that — a blip — and bossed an offense that ranked among the top-five in most categories this season. They turned the Ravens over three times, twice on plays near the end zone.
It has been a bit of a culture shock to recognize the defense is as responsible for why the Chiefs are where they are as the offense, even if it’s just on occasion. Or a lot of occasions. Heck, Mahomes at one point this year even remarked, “We can punt.”
If you’re on the Baltimore side of this, you might be pointing at the play-calling, and frankly, there is a point of confusion. Against a Chiefs defense that has one real weakness — stopping the run — the Ravens called for five handoffs through three quarters.
Five.
2. The clincher
As poetic of a way to clinch a spot in the Super Bowl as you could find.
A Patrick Mahomes deep shot. Marquez Valdes-Scantling on the other end.
Caught.
The most defining image of the Chiefs’ offensive struggles during the regular season has to be a deep pass falling through the hands of Valdes-Scantling, costing the Chiefs a game on Monday Night Football against the Eagles.
So whom did Andy Reid dial up a third-down pass to ice the game?
Valdes-Scantling.
Deep.
He came up with 32-yard reception while falling backwards to his back, just his second catch of the game. The Chiefs, on to the Super Bowl once more.
3. Patrick Mahomes? An underdog? Please
If this postseason has taught us anything the past six did not, it’s this:
Don’t bet against Patrick Mahomes as an underdog.
I’ve called this the potential of a legacy postseason for Mahomes — the first that required him to go on the road, the first that required him to win as an underdog just to reach the Super Bowl.
One game left.
The Chiefs’ defense won the second half, but the offense forced the Ravens into an unfamiliar territory — trailing by double digits. And that certainly made the game much easier on the other side. Once pass-dependent, the Ravens’ offense was out of answers.
Mahomes opened on fire, 10 for 10 in the first quarter, and the Chiefs produced touchdown drives of 81 and 75 yards to begin the game. As good as he was with his arm — including on fourth-down and third-down plays — his pocket movements put him in terrific position.
The Chiefs took the ball out of his hands too frequently after halftime, but Mahomes did enough damage before that it didn’t matter.
4. L’Jarius Sneed, the non-Pro Bowler
Ravens receiver Zay Flowers took a moment after the team’s most productive play in two quarters to make sure Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed knew about it. He was flagged for taunting.
Four plays later, Sneed got the last word.
On a day highlighted by a couple of ridiculous plays from the quarterback, Sneed actually made the game’s biggest play, punching the ball out of Flowers’ arms about a yard shy of the goal line. The Ravens were trying to cut the margin to one score in the fourth quarter.
5. Vintage Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce caught 11 passes Sunday — every time he was targeted. He’s caught more of them than anyone in NFL playoff history. That’s something.
But I’m going to start with one in particular.
There was some vintage Mahomes-to-Kelce happening in the first half, but six years into their relationship, they produced one of their more remarkable plays yet.
On a third-down play, Mahomes scrambled in the backfield for 9.78 seconds — that’s not a misprint — before floating a duck over the middle. Kelce laid out in a dive to get on the other end of it, and managed to contort his body to prevent the football from hitting the ground.
A four-point dive. At least. The Chiefs were in field-goal range but turned that conversion into a touchdown.
Which, by the way, is how the Chiefs scored their initial touchdown, too. Mahomes fired over the middle to Kelce — not his first read — and Kelce extended for the catch on the run.
A seven-point play. Mahomes would cap that drive by giving Kelce a chance to make a one-on-one play in the end zone.
I mentioned this a week ago, but it was just as true Sunday: Kelce set up his postseason success with the decision to sit out the Chiefs’ Week 18 regular-season finale.
He undoubtedly looked fresher over the past three games than he did during the regular season.
This story was originally published January 28, 2024 at 5:30 PM.