The KC Chiefs had a chance to put the game in Patrick Mahomes’ hands. They whiffed.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes stood on the sideline, a heavy coat draping his shoulder pads, eyes glued to the field inside Paul Brown Stadium.
Powerless about how it all would end.
A football sailed through the uprights to beat the Chiefs on Sunday in Cincinnati, 34-31, a result that just might cost them the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
And to think: That football could’ve been in Mahomes’ hands in that moment instead, game on the line. Wait a minute, it should’ve been in his hands.
How? Let the Bengals score.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was kindly prepared to sneak the ball into the end zone with nearly two minutes left Sunday, a touchdown that would have returned possession back to the man who’s led three fourth-quarter comebacks this year alone. (We remember what he did in Los Angeles just last month, right?)
No thanks.
The Chiefs kept battling with their defense instead, and they gave it an admirable effort. They forced the Bengals to run the final seven snaps from the 1-yard line. They even baited Cincinnati into going for a fourth-down try, for whatever reason.
Almost stopped that, too. A penalty flag — one of many coach Andy Reid seemed to question in a round-about way — set up the game-winning kick.
And suddenly, for all of their efforts, the Chiefs were left with nothing. Every one of their defensive stops had simply ticked more time off the clock, lessening the chances for Mahomes to provide some late heroics until —poof — the opportunity had disappeared altogether without Mahomes ever removing his trench coat.
“We stopped them, so...” Reid said. “And then there was a penalty. It kind of played out.”
Reid opted against a more thorough answer when asked about the decision in his post-game Zoom news conference. He acknowledged the Chiefs would have let the Bengals score with just 46 seconds left, but at that point they instead took a knee to set up the field goal.
The more influential decision had long passed by then.
It arrived earlier, immediately after the two-minute warning — with the Chiefs still holding two timeouts, mind you. The Bengals twice tried to use a quarterback sneak to power the ball in the end zone for a go-ahead score. The Chiefs stopped them both, then used both timeouts. One play later, they stuffed running back Joe Mixon. Another 40 seconds off the clock.
Then the flag.
Game over.
It didn’t have end that way. If the Chiefs had dragged Burrow across the goal line on his first attempt, sure they would have trailed by 7, but Mahomes would’ve jogged onto the field with 115 seconds and two timeouts in his back pocket.
Who bets against him?
“There’s a time and a place for that,” Mahomes said. “They made six stops at the goal line. I mean, whenever you make six stops at the 1-yard line, it’s tough whenever they get a first down after that.”
And Mahomes stood stationary on the sideline for the final 6:01. Not a thing he could do but watch.
To be certain, this isn’t black and white. Some will argue the other side of it. A sure-fire Hall of Fame coach chose the other side.
Electing a different option doesn’t guarantee the Chiefs would have won. The Bengals certainly could have stopped Mahomes on that final drive. And heck, the Chiefs nearly won with the option they chose (though the Bengals nearly did them a favor with the fourth-down attempt).
It essentially rests with finding the option that gives you the greatest chance to win, not about which outright guarantees you victory.
In this case, it boiled down to which one is more likely:
Asking your defense to carry a heavier load.
Or asking your half-billion dollar quarterback to do it.
This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 5:46 PM with the headline "The KC Chiefs had a chance to put the game in Patrick Mahomes’ hands. They whiffed.."