Game-winning doink gives Chiefs ninth straight division title

The Kansas City Chiefs (12-1) defeat the Los Angeles Chargers (8-5) at Arrowhead, 19-17 after a Matthew Wright doink went in the Chiefs favor.

With four minutes and 35 seconds left on the clock, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs (12-1) took over with a 17-16 deficit. A kick that landed outside the landing zone by the Los Angeles Chargers (8-5) kicker, Cameron Dicker gave Kansas City the final edge they needed.

Taking over at the 40, Kansas City ran the four-minute offense to perfection. They drove the ball 47 yards on 14 plays taking all but one second off of the clock to give way to a field goal attempt by the Chiefs' third-string kicker Matthew Wright. The Chiefs gained every yard that was absolutely necessary to win the game because what happened next was another unfathomably close way to win a ball game.

Just about all of the air left the greater Kansas City area after Wright doinked the kick off the inside of the left upright and dropped through the field goalposts to give Kansas City a 19-17 win to seal their ninth-straight AFC West title. The Chiefs are the first team in NFL history to kick three game-winning kicks with zeroes left on the board with three different kickers.

“He never looks at himself as the third guy,” head coach Andy Reid said. “I told him, just keep it right a little. To the right just a little bit more but my hat goes off to him for the field goals that he made in tough situations, plus that one right that one at the end was great … I have trust in Matthew so I was good with where we were. Percentages are pretty high. I know we've won a game in that same situation on the opposite end (referencing the blocked kick against Denver), so I get it but he's a solid kicker.”

The Chiefs did not get there easily, however. The game-sealing drive included a 14-yard gain by wide receiver Xavier Worthy on a key third down, their new left tackle D.J. Humphries left the game with an injury, Mahomes scrambled for a first down, a third-down run was converted by Isiah Pacheco and a gutsy call to pass instead of run on the final third down was made by Reid on the play before the doink.

“I have trust in Pat making those kinds of plays,” Reid said. “He kind of said that before the play. He goes just ‘I'll make something happen.’”

Coming out of the two-minute warning, Reid had a choice to make. He could run the ball on a third and seven against the Chargers defense, who had no timeouts. If that run had not gained seven, it would have given Los Angeles the ball with a little less than a minute and 20 left, down two. Instead, the Chiefs took the risk of not completing a pass and stopping the clock just south of two minutes. When the ball was snapped, Mahomes rolled out to the right and patted the ball for a little while before finding tight end Travis Kelce for a nine-yard gain. The conversion guided two kneel-downs before the game-winning kick.

“We expected some man but we had plans for if it was zone,” Mahomes said. “They did a good job of covering it and then (Kelce) just played ball and got himself open. I wanted to get on the edge where I could either fall down and let the clock keep running or try to make a play with the easy type throw and we were able to find a way to get that throw to Trav there and get the first down.”

“He supposed to run a corner route, so it is what it is,” Mahomes said with a chuckle. “I went through my reads … Then as I went ready to run, I just saw 87 just sitting right there in the middle of the field open, so I just fired it to him.”

This game was a tale of two halves as Kansas City entered halftime with a 13-0 lead before the Chargers scored on every single drive they possessed the ball in the second half. At the end of the day though, the matchup was about as even as it humanly possible.

Mahomes tossed for 210 yards, while Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert threw for 213. The Chiefs rushed for 96 yards versus the Chargers' 94. The Chiefs converted 53 percent of their third downs, while the Chargers converted 46 percent of them. They each had 20 first downs. The Chiefs were one of three in the red zone, while the Chargers were two of three. Kansas City possessed the ball for 29 minutes and seven seconds and Los Angeles controlled it for 30 minutes and 53 seconds. Neither team had a turnover.

Quite simply, the Chiefs made the final play of the game and had a touch of good fortune. Kansas City’s defense was absolutely dominant in the first half. Chargers running back Gus Edwards could not get anything going and only ended the day with 36 yards rushing. The Chiefs' defense hit Herbert quite a bit, with defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton leading the way, with two sacks, bringing his season total up to a career-high, 4.5. Linebacker Nick Bolton was active, notching five tackles and a sack. Chiefs’ cornerback Trent McDuffie had a nice day, registering two pass breakups.

Herbert could not get anything going in the first half, but in the second half, he did whatever he wanted. Much like teams have done to the Chiefs' defense lately, he utilized slot receivers and tight ends to exploit Kansas City’s defensive backs. While the Chargers were without their starting slot receiver, Ladd McConkey, Joshua Palmer stepped in nicely for Herbert in the second half. He was their lead receiver with six catches for 78 yards. Tight end Stone Smartt doubled his season totals, catching three balls for 54 yards.

While the Chiefs put some pressure on Herbert, the Chargers defensive front was even more daunting, continuing Kansas City’s offensive line woes. Mahomes was hit a whopping 13 times and was sacked three times, extending his career high to 35 on sacks taken this season. That in combination with the suffocating coverage by Los Angeles’ back seven, never allowed Mahomes to get into a true rhythm.

Then again, the Chiefs are on their third offensive tackle of the season. Reid praised Wanya Morris after the game for not hanging his head and practicing hard all week, which mattered because he had to finish the game for Humphries. Reid did not make a comment on Humphries’ hamstring injury but noted the game started off fast for him before he settled down and played some nice football pre-injury. Soft tissue injuries are not a total surprise when a guy sits out for 11 months and practices for less than two weeks before getting thrust into the lineup.

“I thought (Humphries) did a good job,” Mahomes said. “I mean, there's little things here and there. I mean, he's still learning the playbook. He knows how to pass protect. That's the easy part. He knows how to run block but the pass-off games with new guys, to know where he can kind of cheat and kind of get subtle cues on my cadences and stuff like that. I mean, he truly is just out there playing football and just one-on-one reps, he did a good job today. Obviously, I'll go back and look at the film and hopefully, we can get him back out there soon but to battle to play all those snaps right off the ACL injury, I was proud of how he fought.”

Mahomes dropped back 37 times, compared to 21 designed carries by Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, Worthy and Samaje Perine. Mahomes earned all 24 of his completions and his lone explosive play of more than 20 yards was a catch and run by JuJu Smith-Schuster. His leading receiver was Kelce, who tallied five catches for 45 yards on six targets. Worthy caught five of six targets as well, for 41 yards.

DeAndre Hopkins was busy moving the chains and catching touchdowns once again, but only caught four of his nine targets on the night, so there is room for improvement in that connection still. Los Angeles definitely made it a struggle to move the ball, but then again, they do that to every offense they face, as they were only allowing barely more than 15 points per game. Hopkins’ TD was Kansas City’s only of the day, but Wright did go four for four on his field goal attempts, including sinking a 50-yarder down the middle, which wound up being enough.

“It's part of football you just you just play the game,” Mahomes said. “We’ve played a lot of good defenses this year that's the one bad thing about when you win the Super Bowl, you play the best schedule, and we’ve played a lot of good defensive ends and defensive linemen.”

“I think for myself, it's just finding the soft spot in the pocket. I feel like on some of the early third downs I was kind of running into where they were looping to and they had a plan for me and escaping the pocket and so, just trying to find that soft spot. I thought I did better at that as the game went on and then whenever I was able to make the run at the end. So, working a new guy (Humphries) in, trusting in those other guys, I think we're going to be hitting the ground running as the as the playoffs come.”

The Chiefs committed to the run, more than they did last week, but that is not saying much. After Pacheco and Hunt rushed seven times each against the Las Vegas Raiders, Pacheco got more in the swing of things this week. He received 14 carries in his own right and took them for 55 yards. Hunt took his five for 16 yards, but he did catch a short pass that he extended to a 13-yard first down on his lone target. Perine looked dead in the water on a pass he caught in front of the sticks but broke two tackles for a 16-yard pass on a key third down that sparked a field goal drive, giving Kansas City a 16-14 lead at the time. He also made a gorgeous block, picking up a blitz on the third down Worthy catch during the final drive.

This game was a good test because if the Chiefs had played the way they did against the Carolina Panthers or the Raiders, Los Angeles is good enough of a team that would have handed them a loss last night. There should be no heads down after beating a gritty Jim Harbaugh-led Chargers team. The Chiefs are now 15-0 in their last 15 one-score games.

“I'm proud of the guys,” Reid said. “Coaches, Clark (Hunt) gives us an opportunity to do this, along with Mark Donovan and Brett Veach, so we're all in this together trying to make this happen. It's not easy. I mean, that's not an easy thing and so and every year is a little bit different on how we've gotten there but I'm proud of our guys for just hanging in there. We have so many tight games, more so than some of these other years and so the guys keep hanging in there and feeling like good things are going to happen and keep battling.”

Next up the Chiefs begin their most daunting piece of their 2024 schedule. This Sunday, the Chiefs will play three games in 10 days, starting with traveling to take on the Cleveland Browns (3-10) and Jameis Winston before they host the Houston Texans on the following Saturday and traveling to Pittsburgh the following Wednesday on Christmas. Kickoff in Cleveland is slated for noon CDT.