With perennial supremacy in the NFL has historically come villainous portrayals. The New England Patriots experienced it, and now the Kansas City Chiefs are facing similar as football’s most hunted sovereign.
Andy Reid’s Chiefs are two victories away from becoming the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls after beating the Houston Texans 23-14 on Saturday to reach a seventh consecutive AFC Championship Game, where Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills await.
Patrick Mahomes is seeking his fourth career Super Bowl crown having guided the Chiefs past the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas last February to confirm the dynasty.
Once the league’s most explosive and trick-enthused offense, the Chiefs have rebranded into a hard-nosed winning machine that leans on Steve Spagnuolo’s stubborn shape-shifting defense, having also edged 11 one-score games this season.
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The best of the action from Houston Texans’ clash with the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL Playoffs Divisional Round
“We watch the Chiefs, and I think there is Chiefs fatigue in the public generally,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Neil Reynolds on Inside the Huddle.
“They have become the Patriots. Only Tom Brady and Bill Belichick went to more consecutive AFC Championship Games, they hit repeat and reset like the Patriots.
“Now, everybody thinks they get calls every week. I think Patrick Mahomes got a couple of calls in his favour he probably should not have got.”
Hop onto your social media platform of choice this season and you may well have come across accusations of favourable decisions from officials, refereeing protection for Mahomes and even claims of Chiefs voodoo. All mere opinion, of course.
Ask Texans kicker Kaʻimi Fairbairn, who fired a field goal and an extra point wide on Saturday, while seeing another late field goal blocked.
The Chiefs were, however, beneficiaries of controversial roughing the passer penalties against Will Anderson Jr and Henry To’oTo’o in their Divisional Round win over the Texans, both of which extended drives ending in crucial points.
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Jason Bell and Ndamukong Suh discuss a controversial call on Patrick Mahomes in the NFL playoff Divisional Round game between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs
“I can see the frustration from the outside with the occasional call, but I do think people should enjoy and recognise, which I did with Brady, the greatness, the historic greatness,” added Reynolds.
“I enjoy other teams reaching the Super Bowl, but this is a really good run the Chiefs are on, a historic run, the best seven-year period in history, but they get some calls every now and again.
“When they ended the Patriots dynasty they were the good guys!”
The Chiefs entered the playoffs having ranked 11th in points differential during a regular season in which they had blocked a last-second field goal to beat the Denver Broncos, been rescued by a botched snap in the closing seconds against the Las Vegas Raiders and won by the overstretched toe of Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely.
As much has coupled with their survival through marquee injuries, consistent pass protection issues and the stuttering efficiency of Mahomes and his offense in fortifying a sense of inevitability. They have been anything but convincing at times, and yet finished 15-2 to clinch the No 1 seed and a first-round bye.
“After the game I’m listening to the radio and every other caller is saying it’s fixed, Mahomes gets this and that,” added Jeff Reinebold.
“What is starting to get vocalised is people hate the Chiefs! For decades they were the team in the middle of America nobody really thought about very much.
“They were the small market nobody thought too much about. Now they are the evil empire and you have to banish them.”
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Mahomes finds trusty tight end Travis Kelce to stretch the Kansas City Chiefs’ lead over the Houston Texans
Travis Kelce sparked into life upon the arrival of his favourite time of year at the weekend, leading the Chiefs with 117 receiving yards and a touchdown to surpass Jerry Rice for most 100-yard receiving games in the postseason in NFL history.
He averaged 16.7 yards per catch on the day having managed just 8.5 during the regular season, which also saw him post a career-low but still team-high 823 receiving yards.
“If you had frozen me in a cryo-chamber for 10 years, wheeled me out and plugged me back in, and I watched Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce, I would know it’s January,” said Reynolds.
“It’s ridiculous. Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce, how is that happening?
“It’s the Chiefs. 212 yards of offense, the fewest offensive yards in a playoff victory since 1991. There should be concerns but here they are again in the Championship Game, because of Mahomes, Kelce, the usual suspects.
“He caught a pass over the middle of the field and I’ve seen cruise ships turn quicker.”
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A look at the best plays where Mahomes has combined with Kelce from the 2024 NFL regular season
All four losing teams from the weekend’s Divisional Round contests finished their respective games with superior yardage on offense compared to their opponents, the Chiefs managing just 50 yards on the ground while seeing Mahomes throw for a measly 177.
“Kansas City were out-played by Houston in first downs, third-down efficiency, total plays, total offense, yards per play, passing – this is Mahomes we are talking about – rushing… and they won the football game,” said Reinebold.
It marked a 300th career win for Chiefs head coach Reid, who is now just four playoff victories away from tying Belichick’s all-time record of 31.
Would a third straight Super Bowl win rival the Patriots icon for the right to be considered the greatest coach of all time?
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The best of the action from the Baltimore Ravens’ clash with the Buffalo Bills in the NFL Playoffs Divisional Round
“I don’t know how he cannot be up there as the greatest, being in that special class with the handful of the best of the best,” said Reinebold.
“If he can somehow drag this team to another Super Bowl win and make it a three-peat, which nobody has ever done, including Belichick, then how can you not put him on the same pedestal.
“I think about Belichick’s prickly nature, Andy wants to spread the good around and wants everybody to feel they are the reason they are winning, Patriots culture was never like that.
“He’s not that way. Their defense is what is winning football games, not their offense, and it doesn’t bother him.”
What’s next?
It’s the NFL Conference Championships on Sunday January 26 – live on Sky Sports NFL – with the Philadelphia Eagles first hosting the Washington Commanders in the NFC title game from 8pm, and then the Chiefs taking on the Bills from 11.30pm.
Super Bowl LIX takes place on Sunday, February 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, live on Sky Sports NFL.