On a night when Patrick Mahomes nearly set an NFL record for most passes in a game, it was his legs that provided the spark when the Chiefs needed it most.
Mahomes completed 43 of 68 passes for 446 yards and a touchdown, ran six times for 63 yards and a touchdown while also running in a game-tying two-point conversion to lead the Chiefs to a 20-17 overtime win against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium. Mahomes’ 68 pass attempts were the third-most ever in an NFL game.
“I did not know I threw that many,” Mahomes said. “But at Texas Tech I threw a couple so I’m able to do it. Obviously, you want to try to get the run game going as the season goes on and stay more balanced. But that’s a good defensive line and they did a good job stopping that and Coach (Andy) Reid kind of put it in my hands to go out there and make some stuff happen and it looked bad for three quarters, but we were able to make it happen at the end.”
With just over seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter and trailing 17-9, Mahomes and the Chiefs faced a critical third-and-17 from the Chiefs’ 31-yard line. That’s when Mahomes flushed right, ran up the field then cut back left across the middle for a 20-yard gain.
“I saw a lane to get it close enough, and I thought we’d be able to go for it,” Mahomes said. “When you’re in that situation you know that if you can get it to fourth-and-5 or fourth-and-4, Coach Reid is probably going to give you a chance there.
“As I was running, I felt the safety over-pursuing so I just kind of shot my shot and went there. It was a good play, and we just battled. It wasn’t like we were designing it up. We were just going out there and trying to make some stuff happen.”
Facing another third down at the Tennessee 14, Mahomes dropped back to pass, then scrambled right, broke a tackle, and lowered his shoulder, plowing into two Titans as he crossed the goal line.
“On the touchdown run I probably could’ve just thrown it to JuJu (Smith-Schuster) but I had fully committed to run at that point,” Mahomes said. “But we were just battling at the end of the game. We were just trying to find a way to win, and our defense kept us in the game long enough to do that.”
The Chiefs got nothing out of their run game except from Mahomes, so Reid opted to stick to the air.
“We weren’t getting too far with the run game,” Reid said. “So we thought we need to throw it a little bit.”
Travis Kelce caught 10 passes for 106 yards and Smith-Schuster added 10 catches for 88 yards. Mecole Hardman added six catches for 79 yards and a touchdown as Mahomes completed passes to 11 different receivers.
But more importantly, the Chiefs battled back when things looked bleak, thanks to Mahomes.
“These are the games you’re going to need if you’re going to win the Super Bowl,” Mahomes said. “Obviously we want to be high-flying and score every time you’re on the field. But I think with the schedule we’ve played we’ve won all different types of ways against great football teams.
“So we’ve shown we can do it in different ways. But we’ve got to keep going, keep building and keep getting better.”
