The Kansas City Chiefs hit the Thanksgiving mile marker on the NFL calendar at 10-1, but they are not exactly as dominating as that record would suggest. The defending back-to-back champions have been engulfed in one-score games throughout the season but have come out the other side with a victory each time. Kansas City is 8-0 in one-score games this year, which includes an array of wild finishes ranging from a blocked field goal to kicking game-winners of their own.
On Sunday, the Chiefs barely escaped Carolina with a win as they nearly were upset at the hands of the Panthers, who were double-digit home underdogs in this matchup. After piling up a 20-6 lead, K.C. saw the Panthers storm back and tie the game at 27 apiece in the fourth quarter with roughly 90 seconds remaining in regulation. It was at that juncture that Patrick Mahomes put on his Superman cape and led the offense 57 yards down the field to set up the game-winning field goal.
“You always want to have some blowouts and be a little calmer in the fourth quarter, but I’ve always said it could be a good thing when you get to the playoffs later in the season knowing that you have been in those moments before, and knowing how to attack it play by play not making it too big of a moment,” Mahomes said of being in these tightly contested games, via The Associated Press. “But I would say this more than anybody, I would love to win a game not by the very last play.”
Mahomes came up particularly clutch during that game-winning drive when he scrambled for 33 yards to put Kansas City within field goal range.
“It’s not like I pre-plan that stuff,” Mahomes said of scrambling. “It’s just whenever it comes down to it and you’ve got to make the play, I feel like I try to go out there and make the play, and that’s why I feel like it happens kind of later in games sometimes. You don’t want to slide. You have to kind of put your body out there knowing that you can take hits and stuff like that, but we’ve been able to make some big runs and some big moments.”
At 10-1, the Chiefs control their own destiny. If they can win out down the stretch, they’ll own the No. 1 seed in the conference and the first-round bye that comes with it, along with home-field advantage. If the road goes through Arrowhead Stadium throughout the playoffs, that should help Kansas City if they find themselves in these one-score games yet again.
