‘Never over with that guy’: On the infinite repertoire of Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
Entering the game with Tennessee on Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium, Chiefs coach Andy Reid had been 20-3 in games he’s coached after a bye week. And the Chiefs were double-digit favorites.
But the fifth-winningest coach in NFL history also had been 1-8 in regular-season games (and 2-9 overall) against the Titans, who effectively have been his personal albatross wrapped around Kryptonite plopped over a trap door.
For a good long while, that was the prevailing wave in a game that the Chiefs ultimately eked out 20-17 in overtime.
By the end, the Chiefs would amass 20 more first downs (29-9), rack up more than double the total offense (499-229) and complete a truly astonishing 38 more passes (43 to 5) than the Titans ... who mustered one first down on their last 10 drives.
Patrick Mahomes threw 68 times, tied for the third-most attempts in NFL history, and accounted for 509 overall yards (the Chiefs’ final offensive figures reflected 24 yards lost on four sacks).
Defying any logic those gaudy numbers should imply, the Titans led 17-9 midway through the fourth quarter as the Chiefs faced third and 17 at their own 31.
The Chiefs absolutely were teetering on the verge of a bizarre loss.
Because the Chiefs dropped six passes, including one (by Travis Kelce) that turned into an interception. Because their running backs combined for 14 yards on 13 carries.
Because Harrison Butker missed a PAT and a short field goal before hitting the game-winning kick in overtime.
Because they would finish the game penalized 10 times for 69 yards.
And because there’s just something about the matchup with the Titans, whether it’s in their physicality or what comes with having some sense of owning the Chiefs’ number over time.
Add it all up, and …
“For a time there,” Mahomes said, “it looked bad.”
For that matter, it didn’t look great at the start of that third-and-17 play.
The pocket promptly collapsed from both sides as Mahomes dropped back to pass and was flushed out to his right. No one was open as he scooted toward the line of scrimmage.
When he began to ad lib and commit to the run as he saw open field in front of him, he figured maybe he could twist his way to get in range of a first down.
But when he saw safety Andrew Adams overpursue, Mahomes just “kind of shot my shot” and cut it back.
Next thing you know, Mahomes was zigging and zagging 20 yards for a first down with would-be-tacklers lumbering and stumbling around him.
The game reset in that instant, paving the way to Mahomes’ 14-yard touchdown scramble (on third and 9) followed by him barging in for the tying two-point conversion with 2 minutes, 56 seconds left.
“At that moment in time,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said, “we actually needed something big to happen.”
It’s not the first time Mahomes has changed a game with his running ability. Heck, it’s not even the first time he’s done it against Tennessee; his 27-yard TD run in the AFC Championship Game in 2020 has a place in his considerable career highlight reel.
But it says something remarkable about the depth and range of his game that on a night he threw for 446 yards and set franchise records with both the 43 completions and the 68 attempts, the most vital play, and arguably the most memorable one, was that 20-yard run.
That snapshot, and his overall game on Sunday, stands as the latest testimony of his apparently inexhaustible resolve and repertoire.
“The play is never over with that guy,” Tennessee defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons said.
Since Mahomes can virtually always find an opening or some sort of hidden key that few, if any, others can distinguish, and since he also has the uncanny talent to execute what this X-ray vision discerns, the Chiefs nearly always have a chance through any number of binds.
We’ve seen this over and over and over in different forms by now.
But each episode remains a revelation to be appreciated, both in itself and in what it portends for a team now tied with the Bills atop the AFC with 6-2 records.
In the locker room after the game, The Star’s Jesse Newell asked guard Trey Smith his thoughts on the play as he showed him the video on his phone.
“Yeah, this is ridiculous,” Smith said. “Once again, man, just doing whatever it takes for this team to win. Like, the effort, the drive, the awareness to know where the first down marker was.
“I mean, it’s a champion.”
To me, that’s yet again the superseding takeaway from an otherwise distressing game in many ways.
The Titans somehow confounded the Chiefs most of the night despite the limited game of rookie quarterback Malik Willis, who completed five of 16 passes for 80 yards — 48 of which came on a catch-and-run on Tennessee’s first play from scrimmage. It’s not a reach to suppose Tennessee would have won with a healthy Ryan Tannehill.
And you could come away from the night fretting that the Chiefs are vulnerable with three of their six victories coming by three points or fewer.
But the flip side of that is … they did win those games.
“You’ve got to be able to do this,” coach Andy Reid said.
Meaning when everything is a struggle and somebody has to step up.
You’d sure like it not to come to that. But it’s also the nature of the game that it will, especially in the grind of the playoffs. And when it inevitably does, the Chiefs have something built just for that: Mahomes.
With a stunning sense of where he is on the field … and a similarly remarkable sense of making the moment.
“Coach Reid kind of put it in my hands,” Mahomes said, “to go out there and try to make some stuff happen.”
The stuff that dreams are made of. Again.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.