After initial difficulties, the Kansas City Chiefs easily prevailed 42:21 against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card playoffs. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes delivered a gala performance with five touchdown passes. Now it’s time for a cracker in the Divisional Round.
Both offenses started very cautiously and played for safety with short passes and the run game, which led to a total of five punts in the first five drives of the game.
Then, however, Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman managed a 48-yard punt return just before the red zone. However, the Chiefs made nothing of it. Rather, edge rusher TJ Watt smacked a pass from Patrick Mahomes off the line and linebacker Devin Bush grabbed the interception.
After that, the punt parade continued until the Steelers defense managed another highlight play: The Chiefs tried the wildcat, but ultimately running back Darrel Williams lost the ball twice after a hand-off from Hardman – the second time it was Watt on hand and carried the leather to a 26-yard fumble return touchdown. The shocking tour for the guests!
The Chiefs, however, were unimpressed and turned up the heat from then on. Five Chiefs series with five touchdowns in a row followed and the game was decided after less than six minutes in the second half.
The main point was that the Steelers, after the second Chiefs TD about two minutes before the break, were unable to either hit back again or at least downplay the clock. Instead, they stopped the clock themselves twice – once because Pat Freiermuth ran unnecessarily out of bounds, once again due to an incompletion on 3rd down. Ultimately, Mahomes got the ball back 52 seconds before the break and found Travis Kelce for a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 21:7 twelve seconds before the break.
Chiefs clear the playbook after the break
After the break, the home side marched to the 1-yard line and Mahomes found tackle-eligible Nick Allegretti for a 1-yard touchdown. In return, Najee Harris lost a fumble at the Steelers and just two plays later Mahomes finally threw his fifth TD pass in the game to Tyreek Hill for 31 yards.
As a result, the Steelers also managed a touchdown by Diontae Johnson, who had previously attracted attention with several drops. But the joy didn’t last too long, because the Chiefs immediately put down another long drive, which ended with a special TD. Kelce took the snap from the shotgun with Mahomes well behind him and in front of the snap in motion, then threw a precision pass down the middle to Pringle in the end zone. After that, Pittsburgh only ran some cosmetic results until the end.
This success will see a repeat of last year’s AFC Championship Game between the Chiefs and Bills next week. The Tennessee Titans, meanwhile, are the top seed in the conference against the Cincinnati Bengals.
