The Kansas City Chiefs have made games interesting this season despite their winning record, so why should Sunday’s matchup against the Atlanta Falcons have been different?
Kansas City faced a Falcons squad ready to play and the home team had to dig deep with the game very much in doubt well into the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs withstood the Falcons’ best blows and emerged with a 17-14 win, improving to 14-1 and securing the AFC’s No. 1 overall seed and homefield advantage in the postseason.
Sunday’s game, like many for the Chiefs in recent weeks, was far from easy. It was their seventh straight one-possession win. Atlanta’s defense stifled the Chiefs’ explosive offense and the visitors held a 14-10 lead with less than four minutes remaining.
Too much time on the clock for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes engineered a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped with a 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Demarcus Robinson to give the Chiefs the lead for good, although they had to weather the Falcons’ final and frantic late-game drive — and a missed 39-yard field-goal attempt that would’ve sent it to overtime.
Here’s what stood out from Sunday’s matchup.
MAHOMES IN THE CLUTCH
The Chiefs’ signal-caller is one of the NFL’s top erasers, meaning his big-play and clutch abilities are enough to compensate for mistakes.
Mahomes was certainly needed in Sunday’s close game. He saved his best for the final quarter, passing for 84 yards and a touchdown to energize his team to victory.
PLAYING DOWN TO THE COMPETITION?
The Chiefs entered Sunday’s game as 10-point favorites and had a juicy matchup facing an Atlanta defense ranked at or near the bottom of the league in numerous statistical categories, including 31st against the pass.
The Chiefs’ offense, however, looked lethargic through three quarters. Mahomes didn’t top the 200-yard mark until the final period. The offense also converted a woeful 5 of 13 third-down opportunities.
The Kansas City defense did its job despite being down starting linebackers Damien Wilson and Anthony Hitchens, limiting the Falcons to 367 total yards in the game.
Give credit to the Falcons for having a good defensive game plan. But the Chiefs’ offense should’ve had its way against a 4-10 team, especially coming off a game in which the Chiefs dropped 32 points on one of the Falcons’ divisional foes.
The Chiefs didn’t want this kind of game as a tuneup with the postseason on the horizon.
COMMITTEE APPROACH
The Chiefs were without rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who was inactive with an ankle injury, so they utilized a running back-by-committee approach featuring Le’Veon Bell and Darrel Williams.
Of the two, Williams looked the best, especially in the second quarter, when he totaled 46 yards (27 receiving) on six touches. He finished with a team-high 46 yards rushing on 10 carries to Bell’s 30 on seven.
As a team, the Chiefs rushed for 117 yards on 21 carries.
HUSTLE PLAY
A lot of focus will fall on Mahomes making a bad decision with his interception at the goal line, but the spotlight should also shine on wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who arguably saved the pick from becoming a pick-6.
After picking off Mahomes, Falcons linebacker Foyesade Oluokun appeared to have a clear lane to the end zone with blockers in front of him. Hill, however, came out of nowhere to run down Oluokun from behind. Hill also punched loose the ball, but it landed out of bounds at the Chiefs’ 27-yard line.
The Chiefs’ defense held, sacking Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan on back-to-back plays — once each by Frank Clark and Chris Jones — for a combined loss of 12 yards. More importantly, those sacks pushed the Falcons out of field-goal range and the possession resulted in a punt.
Atlanta’s inability to make something of Mahomes’ turnover is directly attributable to Hill’s hustle play.
SACK NATION
Kansas City’s pass rushers made their presence felt against Ryan throughout the game, recording four sacks and 11 quarterback hits.
Jones, Clark, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and defensive end Alex Okafor each recorded a sack, but it was Jones who applied consistent pressure on Ryan, evidenced by his team-high four quarterback hits.
GLIMPSE OF FUTURE
A pair of Chiefs rookies — Gay and Sneed — showed out against the Falcons.
Gay saw extensive duty and he didn’t disappoint. He totaled a career-high nine tackles with a forced fumble and provided a hint of what was to come in the second quarter. He tallied back-to-back tackles on the Falcons’ third possession, a drive on which Sneed’s second sack in as many games dropped Ryan for a 10-yard loss.
Sneed recorded seven tackles, the sack and two quarterback hits.
NOTABLE
Tight end Travis Kelce had seven catches for 98 yards, giving him 105 receptions this season. He becomes the first tight end in NFL history to record multiple 100-catch seasons. He recorded 103 catches in 2018.
Kelce, who recently became the first tight end in NFL history to record five straight 1,000-yard seasons, now also owns the league record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a single season, breaking George Kittle’s mark of 1,377 set in 2018 with the 49ers.
Kelce continues to make a strong case for the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award.
INJURIES
Linebacker Ben Niemann suffered a hamstring injury in the second quarter and did not return to the game. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins suffered a calf injury in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
The Chiefs close out the regular season in Week 17 against the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium.
