The Chiefs Offense Went On An Epic Roll
As the Chiefs (and their fans) were looking at a 24-0 deficit early in the second quarter, it was easy to get discouraged. At that point, after repeatedly cursing at the television and throwing my hat across the room, I took a minute to take a deep breath. I tried to think of any road for the Chiefs to get out of this nightmare. I came up with this.
Score a TD in this drive.
— Lyle Graversen (@LyleGraversen) January 12, 2020
Get a 3 and out.
Get another TD before half.
Score on first drive of 2nd half.
It's a game, but it has to start right now.
I thought that was a best-case scenario. Get the lead down to 10 points by half and then, with an opening touchdown drive, it would be a 3 point game early in the second half and we could see what happens. I certainly wasn’t confident that they could do it. I was just looking for any kind of hope. Little did I know that I was way too conservative on what the Chiefs were capable of.
In less than one quarter, the Chiefs reeled off 28 points to close out the half with the lead. I couldn’t believe it. I’d never seen anything like it before in all my years of watching football. It turns out there’s a good reason that I hadn’t personally seen that before. It had never happened. Ever.
The #Chiefs are the first team in NFL history, regular season or playoffs, to trail by 24+ points in the first half and be tied or leading entering halftime.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 12, 2020
While the end of the first half was impressive, the Chiefs weren’t done there. Before all was said and done the Chiefs would rattle off seven straight touchdown drives. I was pretty sure I had never seen that before either. Turns out that it had only been done twice before in NFL history (at least dating back to 1970). It was done once by the New England Patriots in 2007 and then again by the Patriots in 2009. The Chiefs were the first and only team to do it in the NFL playoffs.
After that 24-0 hole to start the game, the Chiefs outscored the Texans 51-7 the rest of the game. That’s amazing. It’s unbelievable. Patrick Mahomes went off for 321 yards, 5 touchdowns, and was the Chiefs leading rusher too with 53 yards. No player in NFL history had ever thrown for 300 yards, thrown 5 touchdowns, and rushed for 50 yards in a NFL playoff game, ever. That is until Mahomes did it on Sunday.
When you throw in an impressive 10 receptions for 134 yards and 3 touchdowns by Travis Kelce and a 3 touchdown day for Damien Williams, this offense was simply unstoppable for almost three full quarters. The best part is that Andy Reid didn’t take his foot off the gas. We’ve seen him do it time and time again during his tenure in Kansas City, but not in this game. If some fans were killing him for not having his team ready to play down 24-0 then you have to give him credit for seven straight touchdown drives and eight straight scoring drives overall, not to mention the poise to keep it together after that horrific start.
The Chiefs offense unleashed a fury like the NFL had never seen in the history of the playoffs. The offensive juggernaut from last season reappeared at the best possible time. So what does that mean for next week?