With mojo rising, Chiefs need to make last week’s rally a pivot point instead of a blip
In the AFC Divisional Round playoff game last Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ stupefying rally from a 24-0 deficit to overtake Houston by halftime in a 51-31 victory for now looms as something more: the sort of fateful moment from which a past can be purged and ensuing events can pivot or be propelled.
And perhaps that’s particularly so for a franchise whose modern history is riddled with what might be called contrasting results.
It’s the mojo dreams are made of, the kind of indelible scene that deserves its own shorthand nickname — like “The Arrowhead Exorcism” or “The Turning Point” or some other moniker better contrived by the headline writers and ad wizards of the world.
But there’s no hurry on any of that, even if the experience will forever be something we can draw upon.
Because the immediate meaning of that game, the place that it will occupy in history and the hearts of Chiefs fans, depends on the context in which it ultimately resides.
For it to have lasting significance beyond a stunning snapshot in a vacuum, it must become a mere link in a chain, a means toward a victory over Tennessee in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday at Arrowhead and the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth in a half-century. Should that come to pass, we can debate later whether the Chiefs have to actually win the Super Bowl for the Houston win to have reframing resonance.
Still, this much we can say now: The Houston win illuminated some crucial truths about this team, data points that you might have sensed were there and mattered but proved resoundingly relevant … and figure to be sustaining against Tennessee, too.
The most obvious, of course, is that Patrick Mahomes is a revolutionary/game-changing/gravity-defying/mind-altering presence. And not just when it comes to how Chiefs fans perceive their team after so many years of feeling like only other teams get to have someone as transformational as him.
Playing to strength
The case often has been presented that the Chiefs never are out of a game because of Mahomes’ leadership and profound talents and uncanny savvy, but the point never has been demonstrated as ridiculously as when he threw four (of his five) touchdown passes in the second quarter.
And the way it played out also spoke to a sort of cosmic quirk of the situation that favors the Chiefs at any given time.
“You see teams that don’t have an MVP at quarterback and the skill guys we do, and you say that you want to get them in passing situations,” right tackle Mitchell Schwartz said after the game. “I don’t think anyone approaches us and says, ‘We want to make them throw the ball.’ It definitely (played) to a strength of ours in a weird way.”
But this is about far more than just Mahomes. It was about a team of emerging stars and the sum of the parts: the healthy chemistry and dynamics that makes for trust and accountability; the widely shared experience and abiding poise derived from what it took to get to this precipice a year ago; and emphatic faith in coach Andy Reid and his staff.
Coaches like to say adversity reveals character, and we now have some fine evidence that should apply to the task ahead.
“When you’re down 24 to nothing and you don’t have a good locker room, things can go the wrong way for you,” Reid said Sunday with his customary understatement.
As a ridiculous sequence of blunders unfurled, from dropped passes to a blocked punt to blown coverage, Reid remembered thinking it was “just kind of freak stuff.”
So, then, why freak out?
“What (do) you need to panic for?” receiver Tyreek Hill said after the game. “ The more you panic, that’s when things get more out of control, right? We’ve got the best coach in the league, the best quarterback in the league. I don’t need to panic.”
All of that, from the calm resolve of Reid to conviction about Mahomes and belief in each other, galvanized them in the largely self-induced crucible — and enabled them to turn a budding crisis into a catharsis.
You could see it in bold glances, such as Mahomes’ impassioned words to the offense on the sideline as the Texans were driving to make it 24-0: “Let’s do something special; let’s do something special. They’re already counting us out,” Mahomes said, per video on Showtime’s Inside The NFL. “We’ve got everything we want — we’ve just got to make the plays.”
You could see it in subtle glimpses, such as what Reid credited offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy with doing: staying the course by not going into hurry-up mode unnecessarily.
And it was evident in Mahomes’ downright serene touch and body language on the two fine-feathered passes he threw right after Mecole Hardman’s 58-yard kickoff return, a play that promptly kindled a glimmer of hope that started to take hold with his 17-yard touchdown pass to Damien Williams.
“A lot of people would’ve got down in that situation, but I think the whole team — and I could feel it in the offensive huddle — we weren’t down,” left guard Stefen Wisniewski said. “We didn’t think we were going to lose. I could really feel it after we scored that first touchdown and it was 24-7.
“It was the start of a steamroller, like we’re just going to keep coming and keep coming.”
Suddenly, with the Chiefs in a relatively tranquil place, it was Houston making decisions that reeked of desperation despite still leading 24-7. A gratuitous fake punt was doused by Daniel Sorensen and set up another quick touchdown. And it was 24-21 a jiffy later after Sorensen jarred the ball loose on the ensuing kickoff.
In the wink of an eye, the other guy blinked. And Chiefs were catapulted ahead, seemingly further steeled by the latest phase in their journey.
“I think you can always nitpick what you can clean up and get better at, but I think, ultimately, the most important thing is how we responded to it,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “It was a good thing.”
So, what now?
It was a good thing, indeed. And it’s testimony to the grit and character of this team, which will very much need that against the blinding speed and grinding fury of Derrick Henry and the Titans: Get down 24-0 to Tennessee and the way back won’t be as accommodating.
And it’s what happens now that will reveal whether we witnessed a flash in time against Houston ... or a catalyst toward the next dimension of Chiefs history.
Was it another bridge over troubled water in a season of destiny, marked by the recovery of Mahomes from what for a frightening instant appeared to be a catastrophic injury at Denver and remarkable recent twists that provided the Chiefs a No. 2 seed and two home games as their path to the Super Bowl?
Or was it a setup for more heartbreak against Tennessee, which beat the Chiefs 35-32 in a bizarre game earlier this season, is 8-1 against Reid and three years ago in the playoffs rallied from a 21-3 deficit to beat the Chiefs 22-21?
Like so many other haunting Chiefs playoff losses, that game epitomized by Marcus Mariota’s touchdown pass to himself took on its own infamous identity, as expertly and eloquently described that day by my colleague Sam Mellinger.
“A franchise that already gave its fans the Christmas Day Game, the Kicker Who Shall Not Be Named, the No Punt Game, the 38-10 Game and the No Touchdowns Allowed Game just went all hold-my-beer on postseason disaster,” he wrote.
“Call this one the Immaculate Selfie Game, or the Forward Progress Game, or the You Gotta Be Kidding Me What Are You Doing On Offense In The Second Half Game.”
As for how to view the Houston game, for all the memories it made and promise it portends and what it suggests about the essence of these Chiefs, we can’t know until the Tennessee game whether it was about what would mean the most: a pivot point to the Super Bowl.