SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Forget what it looked like. With the Kansas City Chiefs clinging to a two-point lead early in the fourth quarter and Andy Reid deciding to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Patrick Mahomes was hardly going to risk it with Bully Ball.
Sure, the circumstances were inviting after Mahomes took a shotgun snap and scanned the field. There was a crack of daylight, so he quickly bolted up the middle.
Now here’s where the optical illusion comes in. Mahomes dashed on a collision course to meet 49ers rookie safety Malik Mustapha near the goal line. He lowered his left shoulder. Touchdown.
In macho football parlance, it sure looked like Mahomes “trucked” the defender.
“No, I actually was not trying to lower my shoulder,” Mahomes explained after emerging from the Super Bowl 58 rematch at Levi’s Stadium with a 28-18 victory. “I was trying to absorb the hit because I knew I was going to be right there in the end zone.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
“And that ‘dad body,’ man. I had enough weight on me where I went down. So, it wasn’t like I was necessarily trying to seek out contact. I was trying to absorb it and get in the end zone and it just ended up looking good for me.”
In other words, don’t believe your lying eyes. In the heat of the moment in Week 7 – months before we’ll really know whether the Chiefs can make good on this mission to achieve a three-peat as Super Bowl champs – Mahomes is not crazy enough to risk himself and his team’s chances by needlessly trying to ramrod a defender.
Take it from Mahomes.
“The last time I lowered my shoulder was against Iowa State, and I had an AC sprain,” Mahomes reflected from his Texas Tech days. “And then Iowa State beat me by 56 points. So, I’ve stayed away from that.”
That Mahomes’ running was such a hot topic after the game was nonetheless significant. He set up the 1-yard touchdown plunge with a 33-yard scramble that marked the longest regular-season run of his career and included a deft pump-fake and stutter-step juke along the sideline that caused the hesitation from would-be tackler Dee Winters and allowed Mahomes an escape lane. And Mahomes’ decision to run rather than throw from the 1-yard line weighed on a bigger-picture equation.
Mahomes finished with the lowest single-game passer rating of his career (44.4) and for the second game in a row didn’t throw for a touchdown.
These anomalies from the NFL’s best quarterback didn’t just suddenly pop up. For the season, Mahomes has thrown more interceptions (8) than touchdown passes (6). His 82.5 passer rating would be the lowest since his rookie campaign as a backup, if it holds up for the season.
Yet even with Mahomes struggling to produce the 300-yard games and other fireworks from his arm, the Chiefs (6-0) are still sitting as the NFL’s only undefeated team.
“I just don’t think it’s normal for what you’ve seen from us because there’s not a lot of passing touchdowns,” Mahomes said. “There’s been a lot of turnovers, especially by me. So, I think it’s just showing the versatility of our team. It’s not just about me. It’s not just about the stats and the light show and stuff like that. It’s about playing team football.
“I believe that if we continue to work we’ll get better offensively throwing the ball down the field. Until then it’s nice to know that we have a great running game, we have a great defense and we’re able to execute whenever the time comes to win football games.”
Imagine how good the Chiefs will be when Mahomes gets into his rhythm. The defense, led by All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones and built by coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, has certainly remained solid amid its own growth. It was notable that two of the three interceptions of 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy came from rookies Chris Roland-Wallace and Jaden Hicks.
“Spags does a great job with the different schemes and different personnel,” Reid said, referring to Spagnuolo. “You think about two rookies being able to jump in on this thing and being a part of it and then putting them in position to make plays. He’s the best in the business of what he does.”
Well, the same can be said of Reid, charged to keep his offense flowing despite a rash of injuries to Mahomes’ supporting cast of skilled-position players. After Marquise “Hollywood” Brown suffered a shoulder injury in preseason that still has him sidelined, emerging second-year pro Rashee Rice suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 4. Those setbacks ruined the offseason plan to immediately upgrade the receiver corps. Now it’s more about survival on the fly. On Sunday, a fill-in option, JuJu Smith-Schuster, brought back to Kansas City as a street free agent, re-aggravated a hamstring injury.
And Reid has also had to make up for the loss of high-energy running back Isiah Pacheco, who went down in Week 2 with what was reportedly a fractured ankle. And how’s this for a solution: Kareem Hunt, who broke into the NFL with the Chiefs in 2017 by leading the league is rushing, also returned as a street free agent. He was on the market after being released by the Browns to end a five-year stint in Cleveland. And it’s been plug-and-play. On Sunday, Hunt ran for 78 yards with 2 TDs.
“Eventually, guys will start coming back,” Reid said. “The thing I appreciate the most is guys stepping up and then the other guys trusting them to step up and believing them, and the coaches just coach ‘em.”
As Mahomes alluded to, the Chiefs have continued to prove that they can win with multiple personalities. These “other” Chiefs, winning without dominating performances from Mahomes and his sidekick, Travis Kelce, are pretty good, too. Or ugly good.
In handling the 49ers, the Chiefs rushed for 184 yards – and with the subtle blocking schemes that paid off in producing big plays off jet sweeps and in finishing off drives near the goal line. And again, resourcefulness mattered on a day when Kansas City scored touchdowns on four of its five trips to the red zone.
Hardman had a couple of big gains off jet sweeps, including an 18-yard TD run. He also set up a score with a 55-yard punt return. Meanwhile, Noah Gray, the No. 2 tight end, led the team with 66 yards on four receptions.
Which reminds me: Whatever happened to Carson Steele? In Week 3, the fullback played a featured role and rushed for 72 yards. In three games since, he’s run for 35 yards.
Hey, this formula for the Chiefs has some any-given-week elements. And it’s a long way from the finish line.
“I love every single guy on this team because that’s the mentality – next guy up,” said Kelce, who had a quiet four catches for 17 yards but made an impact with some key blocks. “Everybody feels their role, and they want that opportunity to get out there and show the world that we’ve got everybody we need right here to win the championship.
“I think it’s going to keep expanding,” Kelce added. “Everybody’s role is going to keep expanding throughout the season.”
Which sounds like quite the warning for the rest of the NFL.
