Editorial

Chiefs Outlast Jaguars In Divisional Round To Advance To Fifth Straight AFC Championship Game

AFC Divisional Playoffs - Jacksonville Jaguars v Kansas City Chiefs

(Photo by Jason Hanna/Getty Images)

Seth Roy Contributor
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The Kansas City Chiefs are heading back to the AFC Championship game.

Kansas City’s 27-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars places them in their fifth consecutive AFC title game. They’ll either play against the Buffalo Bills or the Cincinnati Bengals in the championship game depending on the outcome of their Sunday matchup at Orchard Park.

The Chiefs’ victory did not come easily. They dealt with serious adversity early in the game when their star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, had his right ankle rolled while being tackled in the pocket.

His injury occurred one series after throwing an 8-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce on Kansas City’s opening drive.  

Mahomes would stay in the game to finish off Kansas City’s drive, but would  head into the locker room on the next series because of the injury. 

Before heading into the locker room, the limping superstar QB was seen on the sidelines pleading with Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid and a team trainer to keep him in the game. Mahomes was seen saying  “I’m good” and being adamant about not missing any action. His plea to remain in the game was apparently overturned as he was sidelined for veteran quarterback, Chad Henne.

In relief of Mahomes, Henne would lead the Chiefs on an incredible 98-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, which ended with a one-yard touchdown reception to Kelce, for his second score of the game. Henne’s touchdown throw to the Chiefs’ star tight end would put Kansas City further ahead, 17-7.

Trevor Lawrence would lead the Jaguars on a 52-yard drive directly after the Kansas City touchdown to set up kicker Riley Patterson for a successful 41-yard field goal to head into halftime with the Chiefs ahead 17-10. 

Mahomes would triumphantly return on the opening drive of the second half and would later lead the Chiefs to the only points of the third quarter. Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker capped off a 5-play, 29-yard drive, with a 50-yard field goal to expand Kansas City’s lead to 20-10 heading into the final 15 minutes of the game. 

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The Jaguars would not go away easily, scoring on a 75-yard drive on their first series of the 4th quarter when running back Travis Etienne Jr. scored on a four-yard run.

In response, the hobbled Mahomes would lead the Chiefs on a 75-yard drive of their own, capping it off with a six-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling to go back up by ten.

After the Chiefs score, the Jaguars would begin to troop back down the field. Their promising drive ended in a Jamal Agnew fumble inside the 5-yard line. Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton would recover the football to all but seal the deal for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Jaguars would kick a field goal with under a minute left to make the score 27-20, but would fail to recover their onside kick attempt. This set Mahomes and the Chiefs offense up for one kneel down to run the clock out and capture the win.

It was an all-around solid team win for the Chiefs. They were faced with adversity early on in the ballgame but powered through to be victorious.

If the Chiefs play as well as they did on Saturday during the AFC title game, they could very well make their way back to the Super Bowl again. That said, the road to the big game only gets tougher from here.