When Rams running back Kyren Williams had a touchdown run with 3:59 remaining and another touchdown run with 1:10 remaining to finish his team’s fourth-quarter comeback win over the Eagles on Sunday, he was doing something that hadn’t been done in the NFL in a decade: No player had scored multiple rushing touchdowns in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter of any NFL game since 2016.
Then, later on Sunday afternoon, it happened again.
With 3:21 remaining in the fourth quarter on Sunday in Las Vegas, Kansas City running back Kenneth Walker ran for a two-yard touchdown that gave the Chiefs the lead. The Raiders fumbled the ensuing kickoff, the Chiefs recovered, and on the next play Walker ran for a 22-yard touchdown that sealed the Chiefs’ win.
Williams and Walker became the first NFL players in 10 years to score two rushing touchdowns in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter of an NFL game. Or, to be precise, Williams became the first player to do it in 10 years, and then Walker became the first player to do it in three hours.
Before Williams and Walker, the last player to score two rushing touchdowns in the final four minutes was Washington running back Rob Kelley, who scored had touchdown runs with 3:54 remaining and with 2:26 remaining in a win over Green Bay on November 20, 2016. Kelley was an undrafted rookie running back who surprisingly became Washington’s starter midway through that season and had his greatest game that day against the Packers, carrying 24 times for 137 yards and three touchdowns. Unfortunately, Kelley never reached those heights again, and his NFL career was over two years later.
For Williams and Walker, who have been two of the NFL’s top running backs for years, it’s no surprise that they stepped up when their teams needed them. But their late-game heroics on Sunday represent a surprising feat for any player, let alone for two players to accomplish mere hours apart.