It additionally reaffirmed why I nonetheless imagine the Chiefs are well-positioned to change into the primary crew to win three straight Tremendous Bowls:
This crew is aware of learn how to win ugly.
Sunday’s last-second victory marked Kansas Metropolis’s fifth win this season by three factors or fewer. Heck, every of its final 4 wins have come that method. All however two of the Chiefs’ victories have been determined by a single possession, and none have come by greater than 13 factors.
I gained’t argue that Kansas Metropolis’s luck this season has been disproportionately favorable, although.
It began in Week 1, when the Chiefs held on for a 27-20 win after Baltimore’s Isaiah Possible landed with a toe out of bounds on what would have been a landing on the ultimate play of regulation.
Two weeks later, Kansas Metropolis escaped Atlanta with a 22-17 victory following a controversial no-call on what seemed like defensive move interference in the long run zone with the Falcons driving late within the fourth quarter.
After which got here maybe the wackiest of all of them in Week 13, when Las Vegas was inside vary of a possible game-winning subject objective earlier than a botched shotgun snap helped the Chiefs prevail 19-17.
Positive, Kansas Metropolis ought to in all probability have not less than three or 4 losses at this level. However a handful of its wins have additionally come from a pristine poise that few, if any, different groups have.
Take Week 10 in opposition to Denver, when the Chiefs exploited a smooth spot within the Broncos’ field-goal unit and blocked what would have been the game-winning 35-yard kick as time expired for an unbelievable 16-14 victory.
Or at Carolina in Week 12, when Patrick Mahomes calmly directed Kansas Metropolis 57 yards in just below two minutes to arrange Spencer Shrader’s 31-yard subject objective on the gun, giving the Chiefs a 30-27 win.
Then there was Sunday night time, with Mahomes changing two important third downs on Kansas Metropolis’s remaining drive to arrange Wright’s nerve-racking winner.
The Chiefs aren’t blowing groups out like they used to, however that maybe makes them even scarier. It’s onerous to think about a crew flat-out dominating Kansas Metropolis, and the Chiefs have repeatedly confirmed that they gained’t burst when the strain peaks.
On high of that, take a look at their final two playoff runs. Except for that 19-point residence win in final 12 months’s wild-card sport in opposition to the Dolphins (who had no enterprise competing in these frigid circumstances), Kansas Metropolis has gained six of its final seven postseason video games by one possession.
The Chiefs nonetheless have 4 regular-season video games remaining to seek out one other gear, however even when they don’t, they’re nonetheless assured not less than one residence playoff contest.
Kansas Metropolis has completed simply sufficient to carry the AFC’s greatest report coming into the ultimate 4 weeks, and everyone knows Mahomes is able to shredding a protection to assist ignite a Chiefs rout that appears lengthy overdue.
Groups like Buffalo and Pittsburgh have emerged as Kansas Metropolis’s possible high challengers within the convention, however the playoffs are a unique beast.
Each snap is magnified, and errors can show deadly.
It’s simple to panic and abandon your id when the sport isn’t going as deliberate. However the Chiefs are adept at staying the course, regardless of how bumpy it might get.
It is probably not the sexiest technique to win, however Kansas Metropolis’s knack for remaining calm may quickly ship one other Tremendous Bowl ring bearing the glint that has been largely lacking from the Chiefs’ success this season.