The Kansas City Chiefs were riding a three-game skid ahead of their Week 17 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. But six Harrison Butker field goals and shutting Jake Browing and the Cincy offense out in the second half put the Chiefs back on track with a 25-17 victory. Now 10-6 on the season, Kansas City clinched their eighth-consecutive AFC West title since 2016 and finally punched their ticket into the postseason as the AFC’s third seed in the tournament.
Kansas City faced plenty of adversity this season as self-inflicted wounds held this team from being one of the NFL’s top-ranked clubs. Against the Bengals, it seems the Chiefs are finally moving away from being something they’re not – the pass-happy team we’re accustomed to – and embrace being a team that does enough on offense that relies on their defense.
“I mean, the season hasn’t been – we’re not winning [the AFC West] in Week 12 or Week 13 like we have before,” Mahomes explained. “We had to battle through adversity and find a way to win this game, but it’s not over. We have to continue to get better and better [and] we understand that.”
Stringing wins together has not been something the Chiefs have done as of late. After starting the year 6-1, they’ve lost five of their last nine games. Mahomes knows that sustaining a run in the postseason means building off of the momentum from the previous game and says finding ways to be more consistent is the main focus.
“The motto of this season at the end of it has been a good game and a bad game, so how can we sustain and get stuff going and continue to build off this momentum and get that momentum going into the playoffs? Like I said, now you’re in the playoffs, it’s one game single elimination, and I think we can go out there and compete with anybody.”
Someone who is transitioning into a big-play guy is rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice, who made some big plays in the passing game that kept the offense on the field. But the primary guy that was the main focus on offense was running back Isiah Pacheco, who finished with 18 rushing attempts for 130 yards, seven catches for 35 yards receiving, and the team’s lone touchdown against the Bengals on Sunday.
“I think guys just did a great job of attacking the defense,” Mahomes continued. “I think at the end of the day, it’s me trusting those guys to go out there and make plays happen, and I put it out there, and guys made a lot of plays happen [and] that’s just going to have to continue, to build trust that I can go and do that, and I think that’ll help open Travis [Kelce] up because there’s so much attention on him in the middle of the field. I think if we can show that we can go over the top and hit these deep passes, it’ll open him up, and then we can battle off that throughout the rest of the year.”
Mahomes finished Week 17, completing 21 of 29 passes for 245 yards and one touchdown. Next week, Kansas City will cap off the 2023 regular season on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers (5-11), whom the Chiefs wracked up 483 total yards and four touchdowns in Week 7.
