Isiah Pacheco, Jerick McKinnon must be featured with Patrick Mahomes limited

Due to a high ankle sprain, the Kansas City Chiefs will have a limited Patrick Mahomes for the AFC Championship game. Running backs Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon must be featured vs. the Cincinnati Bengals.

One of the biggest storylines right now for the NFL playoffs is a high ankle sprain to Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He suffered this injury last week versus the Jacksonville Jaguars. With Mahomes likely to be limited in some capacity for the AFC Championship round, Chiefs running backs Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon must be featured.

High ankle sprains typically take multiple weeks to heal. Patrick Mahomes was back and practicing four days later with a Super Bowl appearance on the line. He will be playing in Sunday’s game versus the Cincinnati Bengals, but we don’t yet know how much his ankle will affect his performance on game day.

Since Kansas City has lost three consecutive meetings to the Bengals, the Chiefs should be aware of how they’ve found success when facing them over the past two seasons. There is a major staple of football for the Chiefs to take advantage of: Run the ball!

In each of those aforementioned games played against Cincinnati, Kansas City has been ahead on the scoreboard. The Chiefs had a 14-point lead in one game. They even held an 18-point lead in another. Generally, this would indicate leaning more on running the ball until the other team can make a stand. Head Coach Andy Reid has always had a reputation for passing the football. At some point, the Chiefs should take what the defense gives them rather than being baited to pass against eight-man coverage.

Let’s peek at the times when the Chiefs’ backfield and Bengals clashed over the past two seasons.