Opinion: Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid learn the Grim Reaper isn't a homer as Chiefs have epic meltdown
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Way to blow it, Chiefs.
As much as the AFC title tilt on Sunday was a testament to the resilience and magnificent rise of Joe Burrow & Co. – the Cincinnati Bengals?! are headed to the Super Bowl!? The Bengals?
It was a rather damning indictment of the heavily favored, former AFC champs.
Twenty minutes into the game, Kansas City led 21-3. A couple of hours later, the Bengals were celebrating on that sacred Arrowhead Stadium turf, holding up the trophy named after the Chiefs' founder, after winning 27-24 in overtime.
What happened?
Old heads will recall how the Chiefs used to have a reputation of squandering their home-field advantage with stunning setbacks. But this wasn’t that.
This was on Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the other contemporary Chiefs, trying to get back to the Super Bowl while hosting an unprecedented fourth consecutive AFC Championship Game.
They blew the blowout. Oh, for the lessons they can learn and the haunting images that they’ll take to the offseason. Lesson 1: Don’t let a team hang around by not putting them away when they’re down.
It’s also evident that the Grim Reaper is not a homer. A week after Mahomes ignited the last-minute heroics that burned the Buffalo Bills, the dagger was on the other foot.
As rough as it got for Mahomes in crunch time, the Chiefs' momentum was long gone by then. Rather than marching down the field for a game-clinching touchdown in OT like last week, he threw a pick that set up the Bengals with a short field that led to the winning points.
This trip to the Super Bowl turned at the end of the first half, when the Chiefs wasted the opportunity to pad their lead before the break.
No, these games don’t come down to one play. But if the Chiefs could have one back, it would be the second-and-goal from the 1-yard line when Mahomes’ quick throw to Tyreek Hill in the left flat was foiled by Eli Apple.
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The play began with five seconds on the clock. Reid decided to go for the jugular with a touchdown, rather than take a chip-shot field goal that could have extended the lead to 24-10.
Bad move. The clock expired as Hill was tackled in the open field.
In hindsight, Reid knew what everybody knew in real time. There’s no way you risk not throwing a pass to the end zone that if incomplete, might have left a tick on the clock for the field goal.
Careless. And it cost the Chiefs more than missing the points, because it gave the underdogs an enormous boost in momentum.
Reid is better than that. Or at least he should have known better.
“I probably gave them the wrong play,” Reid reflected. “I could have called another play. The guy was open in the end zone. I’ll take responsibility for that.”
Sure, the buck stops with Reid. But it was a collaborative effort, and Mahomes suddenly began mimicking some of the flaws we saw in October during his early season slump.
After completing 18-of-21 passes for 220 yards, with three TDs and zero picks, Mahomes had a 149.9 pass efficiency rating at halftime. After that? He was 5-for-11 for 55 yards passing (including zero in OT). The efficiency rating was 34.0 for the last two quarters and 0.0 for overtime.
“I could’ve given him better things to work with,” Reid said, nobly, pointing the finger at himself for the play-calling. “Better things.”
The Bengals' defense switched up its scheme in the second half, dropping more defenders into coverage and rushing four and sometimes three linemen on Mahomes in order to clog the passing lanes. It worked. And they still got to Mahomes with their undermanned rush.
Yet beyond the X’s and O’s, Mahomes’ misfires and Burrow’s hot legs, there was a psychological boost that lifted the Bengals … and went a long way toward dooming the Chiefs.
When Kansas City came up empty on that drive before the half – when 13 seconds remained, the Chiefs crowd gleefully chanted, “Thir-TEEN SEC-onds!” to hail that fourth-quarter sequence against Buffalo in the AFC divisional playoff – the Bengals knew they still had a shot.
“When we stopped them before halftime, we got the momentum and it carried over,” said Bengals safety Vonn Bell, who got the pick that set up Evan McPherson’s game-winning, 31-yard field goal.
The Chiefs got the ball to start the second half and promptly punted. So, no double-dipping. Instead, it continued a pattern. The Bengals' defense stopped the prolific Chiefs offense from scoring on six consecutive possessions, then ultimately gave up just three second-half points.
That’s how you shock the world.
The Bengals had to know they could come back. When the teams met in Cincinnati in Week 17, with the Chiefs needing a victory to hang onto the No. 1 seed for the AFC playoffs, the Bengals rallied from a 14-point deficit and claimed a 34-31 victory on McPherson’s 20-yard field goal as time expired.
And the Chiefs had to know they were capable of blowing it. Again.
The Chiefs were the fourth team in the Super Bowl era to play back-to-back overtime games. And now they are the fourth consecutive team to lose the second game in the sequence. Of course, the Bengals won it fair and square – and there’s no debate this week about the need to change the overtime rules. The Chiefs won the coin toss. And they still lost.
In congratulating the Bengals, Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark reflected on the blown halftime lead and then some.
“Hats off to their coaching staff,” Clark said. “The players decided they were going to compete for the last 30 minutes. It’s not any shade on them. The best team and the smartest team all-around won today, and that was the Cincinnati Bengals.”
As shocking as it was.