KC Chiefs vs. Bengals: Depressing takeaways from a complete meltdown

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KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – JANUARY 30: Defensive end Sam Hubbard #94 of the Cincinnati Bengals sacks quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs during the second half of the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium on January 30, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

The two sides of Patrick Mahomes

We’re not exactly sure what to make of the day that Patrick Mahomes had.

On the one hand, at this point, we’re okay saying that Patrick Mahomes has no equal—none. That’s not intended as a slight to other quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady are veteran legends and Hall of Famers themselves capable of putting together MVP numbers, to be sure. Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, and even the losing quarterback from Sunday, Joe Burrow, are all young gunslingers worthy of mentioning in any conversation for the league’s top quarterbacks.

All that said, Mahomes is clearly the best—until he’s not.

We already watched his postseason greatness just a week ago as he rose like a phoenix and engineered the game-tying drive in 13 seconds only to then elevate the Chiefs to an overtime win over the Buffalo Bills. This week, Mahomes dominated the Bengals early with three touchdown drives to start the game and put K.C. on top for good.

If you want to know a single play that separates Mahomes from the rest, the end zone toss to Travis Kelce is a great example.

https://twitter.com/Chiefs/status/1487889059070582785

But then we all saw the meltdown. After failing to score from 1st-and-goal before halftime, here are the drives put together by Mahomes and the Chiefs offense:

Punt
Punt
Interception
Punt
Punt
Field Goal
Interception

There were even throws in there that could have been intercepted that weren’t. Of course, there were other miscues (see below) but much of this was undoubtedly on Mahomes.

It wasn’t just a tale of two halves. It was a tale of two quarterbacks. One was confident and full of moxie and magic. The other was timid, succumbed to pressure, and couldn’t seem to get much of anything moving. A lot of questions will be asked about this performance in the days to come.

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