6 studs (and 1 dud) for the Chiefs from a Christmas Day victory over the Steelers

The Kansas City Chiefs came into Wednesday hoping to eke out a win and stay as healthy as possible given that the NFL was forcing them to play on a Wednesday—and Christmas Day at that—in a late-season debut for Netflix as a streaming partner. Not only did they claim victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they embarrassed a tough AFC North team on the road and won by a 19-point final deficit.

The Chiefs were in full control of the game from the very beginning after jumping out to a 13-0 lead on turnovers by the Steelers. Even without Chris Jones on defense, the Chiefs made life miserable for Russ Wilson for most of the day and the Chiefs took care of business to go to 15-1 on the season.

While we're celebrating a hearty Christmas win, we thought we'd take a look at several studs and one dud from a memorable holiday win.

Stud: Patrick Mahomes

What else can be said about Patrick Mahomes at this point? We're happy to keep trying.

Mahomes finished with 29 completions on 38 passing attempts, 320 passing yards, and 3 touchdowns with zero interceptions on the afternoon. Those are MVP numbers from a two-time NFL MVP, and it comes at the right time.

Mahomes' intelligence was on display all day. It was the short floater of a pass to Samaje Perine for a shocking first down. It was the way he'd know when to scramble even though it was clearly painful to slow down and make cuts. It was the way he'd deliver perfectly timed passes just over the reach of defenders as he knew the blitz was coming down. It was even the way he kept the team focused and ready in the face of multiple flags that could have deflated the team's momentum.

Yeah, that's Mahomes turning it both on and up when it matters most and the offense looks like it's starting to roll over opponents just as the postseason is coming into view.

Stud/Dud: Jawaan Taylor

Following this game, the majority of Chiefs Kingdom is likely going to call this section a bit too friendly to Jawaan Taylor. We understand.

Taylor, the Chiefs' right tackle, has a reputation for being a highly-paid flag machine whose costly penalties have hurt the team at critical junctures. On Christmas Day, that was once again the case as he came away with multiple penalties from a false start to multiple holding calls. One of those holding calls removed a Chiefs first down deep in Pittsburgh territory and set them back out of field goal range—a three-point mistake at least.

That said, Taylor also was called for one holding penalty that was questionable and the truth is that he's an exemplary pass blocker. There's a reason the Chiefs wanted him there in the first place, and despite the attention he draws for his controversial habits, by and large, he does a solid job for the Chiefs outside.

Yes, the Jawaan Taylor experience can be a frustrating one—if it was a ride, it'd be a roller coaster—but no one should throw out the good with the bad.

Stud: Travis Kelce

It'd be silly if we didn't mention Travis Kelce on a day in which he became the Chiefs' all-time touchdown receptions leader over Tony Gonzalez—an unbelievable accomplishment that only adds further color to the tremendous body of work he's put up at the highest levels of the game.

Kelce came up huge in Week 17 with 8 catches on 11 targets for 84 yards and 1 touchdown, which led the team in receiving yards on the day. On the season, he now has 97 catches for 823 yards and 3 scores, giving him another strong season that further cements his Hall of Fame legacy.

The chemistry is still as fun to watch as ever between Kelce aned Mahomes. It's also just as effective.

Stud: Mike Danna

The entire pass rush deserves a mention here and we're going to spend some on them, but lumping everyone together is to fail to give the individual players the credit that they deserve and we wanted to shout out Mike Danna here at the start.

Danna came into this season dealing with an injury but playing through it anyway and his detractors were quick to point to a lack of disruption early as a sign that he perhaps didn't deserve the extension given to him this offseason by the front office. But the player most celebrated as the underrated glue of the defense has continued to get better this season and played big-time football for the Chiefs on Wednesday without Chris Jones taking up attention.

Danna had two critical sacks on the day, another 2 hits, and 3 tackles for a loss. He was omni-present on the Steelers side of the ball and it proved that the Chiefs do have playmakers on the line apart from Jones, despite what some analysts would have you believe.

By the way, Danna's contract was not a lucrative one and the Chiefs should be happy to employ him for the next couple of seasons as well.

Stud: George Karlaftis

We said we needed to hang around the pass rush and we are with a special mention of George Karlaftis here, too.

Yes, Felix Anudike-Uzomah had a nice highlight himself, and Charles Omenihu has been the non-stop motor that powers so much pressure on quarterbacks since he's gotten back. But we've praised Omenihu here quite a bit since his return and we wanted to tip the cap to Karlaftis this week.

Karlaftis came away with two quarterback hits, one sack, a pass deflection and more on Wednesday in a well-rounded effort that showed a lot of his progress since hitting the professional level. One play had him trying to defend Pat Freiermuth, but that was on Spags and not at all his fault. When tasked with the right job, Karlaftis almost always gets it done with quality.

Furious George is playing some great football right now and that bodes well for the Chiefs defense in January.

Stud: Xavier Worthy

We'd be remiss not to highlight the Chiefs first-round rookie for his strong performance once again in Week 17—a growing trend week by week as the Kingdom literally watches him transform in front of its eyes.

Worthy has long since abandoned the speedy project label that accompanied him into the pros. He's matured as a route-runner. He's improved as a ball tracker. He's proven to be far more versatile than anyone could have envisioned in his rookie season, but more importantly, he's handling volume with efficiency.

On Wednesday, Worthy was targeted 9 times, most among wide receivers, and caught 8 of them for 79 yards and 1 touchdown. He also ran it twice for 10 yards. On the season, he has 58 catches for 638 yards and 6 touchdown receptions to go with another 3 scores and 104 yards on the ground. With the way his learning curve is trending, the thought of his potential in K.C. is exciting.