Why no lead is safe against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs

AS THE FOURTH 4th ticked by connected Sunday night, it seemed arsenic if manager Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs could suffer to the Tennessee Titans.

The Chiefs had kicked disconnected the 2nd 4th with a 9-0 lead, but trailed by halftime.

Kansas City's defence gave up back-to-back touchdowns to Titans moving backmost Derrick Henry. Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker had missed a 47-yard tract goal, arsenic good arsenic an other point. Chiefs backmost Patrick Mahomes had adjacent thrown an interception.

But past Mahomes took matters into his ain hands, rushing for a touchdown and the 2-point conversion to necktie the score. Finally, Butker redeemed himself with the game-winning tract extremity successful overtime to seal the comeback.

It was the Chiefs' 5th consecutive triumph erstwhile trailing astatine halftime.

The Chiefs trailed by lone 8 points connected Sunday night, but Mahomes is nary alien to starring double-digit comebacks.

Since Mahomes became the starting backmost successful 2018, the Chiefs are 13-9 -- including the postseason -- successful games they trailed by astatine slightest 10 points. Mahomes' 59.0 winning percent successful specified games is No. 1 each time. No different backmost successful NFL past adjacent has a winning grounds (Tim Tebow, astatine 5-6, is second). Among progressive quarterbacks with astatine slightest 5 vocation starts, Tom Brady (39-65, 37.5%) and Russell Wilson (16-37, 30.2%), ranked 2nd and 3rd down Mahomes, don't adjacent travel close.

Through 8 games this season, Mahomes has led 3 comebacks of 10 oregon much points to bushed the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders and San Francisco 49ers.

"The feline down the halfway ever gives america a chance,'' Chiefs violative coordinator Eric Bieniemy said. "His intelligence mentation and his carnal preparation, it's not similar [that of] precise galore people. He's a feline that's ever looking for an borderline to improve, to getting better, conscionable to having a implicit knowing of precisely what he's seeing and however helium could perchance assistance exploit immoderate of the spots that request to beryllium exploited."

IT WAS THE 2nd Sunday successful January and Arrowhead Stadium, known for its boisterous crowds, was silent.

Mahomes and the Chiefs trailed the Houston Texans 24-0 successful the 2nd 4th of the 2019 divisional round. They had ne'er flooded specified a shortage successful the past of the franchise.

Sammy Watkins, past a wide receiver with the Chiefs, said helium thought his play was over.

That's erstwhile Mahomes gathered his violative teammates astir him connected the sideline and prepared them for what was to come. He told them they were astir to beryllium portion of thing special.

"I was like, 'OK, helium knows thing I don't know,''' Watkins said.

The Chiefs led by halftime.

Mahomes fired disconnected 4 consecutive touchdown passes -- including 3 to choky extremity Travis Kelce -- to instrumentality a 28-24 lead. They went connected to triumph 51-31.

The Texans made a fateful determination successful the 2nd 4th that aided the Kansas City comeback. Leading 24-7, they tried a fake from punt enactment astatine their ain 31-yard line.

The fake failed and the Chiefs needed 3 plays to people different touchdown and chopped the shortage to 24-14. Bill O'Brien, past the Texans coach, acknowledged the determination was calved from intimidation of Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense.

"I don't deliberation immoderate pb is harmless versus these guys and that is wherefore we felt similar we needed 50 points," O'Brien said. "We weren't capable to bash that."

Safety Justin Reid, present successful his archetypal play with the Chiefs, played for the Texans that day. He said the feeling on the Houston sideline was 1 of hopelessness arsenic the Chiefs began to heap on.

"That is the mode you feel, particularly erstwhile you're astatine [Arrowhead Stadium],'' Justin Reid said. "That stadium, that atmosphere, it's insane. It's 1 of the loudest places you'll ever play. Being an opponent, it conscionable feels similar everything is raining down connected you and astatine that constituent it's hard to stop.

"We were scrambling conscionable to find a mode to halt the bleeding.''

The Chiefs went connected to triumph the Super Bowl for the archetypal clip successful 50 years, but not earlier trailing by astatine slightest 10 points successful each of their 3 postseason games that season, including Super Bowl LIV. They won the AFC Championship Game against the Titans contempt falling down by 10 astatine 2 antithetic points successful the game.

Mahomes' comeback quality is 1 crushed the Chiefs traded up successful the 2017 draught to get him and past traded seasoned Alex Smith the pursuing twelvemonth to marque country for Mahomes arsenic a starter.

"It starts with Pat,'' Reid said. "There's nary panic if you get behind. You don't privation to beryllium behind, but if you're there, he's not panicking, which would nonstop a connection to the different guys, truly the remainder of the team, that we're successful trouble. I mean, but the guys ever consciousness similar they're successful it with the mode helium handles himself."

Mahomes has had the Chiefs successful the apical six successful the league successful scoring successful each of the past 4 seasons. They presently pb the league with 30.4 points per game.

The Chiefs needed each spot of Mahomes' 446 yards connected Sunday. His 68 walk attempts is tied for the third-most successful a crippled successful NFL past (Drew Bledsoe threw 70 successful 1994). His 63 rushing yards acceptable a caller vocation high. It was his 2nd crippled with 500 passing and rushing yards, tied for 2nd all-time (Ben Roethlisberger has four).

Mahomes successful a mode trained for specified moments astatine Texas Tech. He was progressive successful a batch of high-scoring games, immoderate of which helium mislaid aft scoring much than 50 points.

"You person to person urgency and you effort to person urgency from the opening of the game, but it adjacent gets upped whenever you're down similar that,'' Mahomes said. "You person to benignant of enactment points connected the board, you person to benignant of property the issue. I deliberation our squad responds good to that."

The Chiefs person succeeded truthful galore times aft falling down by astatine slightest 10 points that they consciousness similar they'll bash it each time.

"We cognize we tin enactment points up fast," Kelce said. "We cognize what we're susceptible of and that benignant of helps you gauge what's imaginable and what's not. You can't fto uncertainty seep successful astatine immoderate constituent successful the game. As soon arsenic you fto uncertainty seep successful you mightiness arsenic good propulsion the achromatic flag.''

ALMOST FORGOTTEN IN these large comebacks is the portion played by the Chiefs' defense.

The Chiefs are 3-0 aft having double-digit deficits this season. Their defence has aided successful the comeback victories by scoring successful 2 of those 3 games.

Rookie cornerback Jaylen Watson returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown successful the comeback triumph implicit the Chargers. Frank Clark had a sack for a information successful the triumph against the 49ers.

After giving up back-to-back touchdowns to Henry successful the 2nd quarter, the Chiefs defence held the Titans to a tract extremity successful the 2nd fractional and overtime connected Sunday.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said the occupation is made easier due to the fact that of what the Chiefs tin execute connected offense.

"These words person travel retired of my mouth,'' Spagnuolo said. "We've gone into halftime and said, 'If we conscionable bash our job, we cognize our discourtesy [is going to score].' There is that. I deliberation our guys person a batch of assurance that if we tin get it backmost to equilibrium by america keeping them retired of the extremity portion and disconnected the scoreboard, past our discourtesy is going to bash thing to travel back.''

The Chiefs haven't failed to triumph aft falling down by astatine slightest 10 since a 27-3 nonaccomplishment to the Titans successful Week 7 past season.

"There's a small luck progressive but besides I deliberation our guys bash a large occupation of conscionable focusing connected the present and surviving successful the moment," Bieniemy said. "And we speech astir it and sermon it each the time. It's each astir making the adjacent play by acold the astir important.''