The Kansas City Chiefs completed a three-game sweep of the 11-day sprint that began on December 15 in Cleveland and eventually ended on Christmas Day versus the Pittsburgh Steelers — and quarterback Patrick Mahomes believes his team is just beginning to hit its stride heading into the NFL playoffs.
“Yeah, I mean, [the 11-day stretch] showed the toughness of the team, and I think we got better as the games went on,” Mahomes said, following the Week 17 victory.
“The guys, they’re mentally tough and they’re physically tough,” the Chiefs QB went on. “And we played some really good football teams, some hard-fought battles, and the guys came away with three wins.”
He continued this message on the Chiefs trending upward after a follow-up question.
“Yeah, that’s what you want to do,” Mahomes responded, when asked if he feels KC is heating up at the right time.
“Obviously, we feel like we can continue to get better and better, but obviously we’re playing — especially offensively — our best football at the end of the year and getting guys healthy and we’re excited for it. We’re going to keep working. This isn’t the end, this is just the beginning, and we’ll continue to work to get even better as we go into the playoffs.”
Patrick Mahomes Says Hollywood Brown’s Return Has Made ‘Huge Impact’ on Chiefs Offense
Later, Mahomes added that the impact of Hollywood Brown’s return at wide receiver has helped the Chiefs offense come together at the right time.
“I think we’ve built up to the perfect spot,” the three-time Super Bowl champion explained. “We’ve gotten better and better before Hollywood got here. Xavier [Worthy] started playing better — being more confident. I’ve got a better chemistry with him. Other guys have stepped up, started making plays, and then it’s like you throw Hollywood in there and it kind of sets everybody perfectly in their roles.”
“You saw that today [against the Steelers],” Mahomes pointed out. “It seemed like we spread the ball around really well and guys made plays.”
The superstar QB concluded that “when you have that many weapons out there, it’s hard for defenses to account for and Hollywood’s made a huge impact on this offense.”
Chiefs Do Not Say If They Will Rest Patrick Mahomes & KC Starters in Week 18
After Week 17, Mahomes noted that clinching the No. 1 seed is “like winning a playoff game,” being that it comes with a first-round bye.
Having said that, Kansas City still has one game to play before their initial bye. And that outing will come Week 18 in Denver.
What’s unclear is whether or not Mahomes and the starters will be out there against the Broncos.
“We’ll see how Week 18 goes, and who plays and who doesn’t play — that’s up to coach,” Mahomes stated. “But even getting this little break, getting back healthy and then getting ourselves ready to go for the playoffs, it was super important especially with the guys that we have banged up.”
After a follow-up, the Chiefs signal-caller reiterated that it is completely up to Andy Reid on if he’s going to start — or take the field at all — for the final game. Mahomes did express that he will study and prep for the Broncos as he typically would, being that they could make the playoffs and theoretically face KC a third time this winter.
“I have full trust in Coach Reid,” Mahomes added. “He knows what he’s doing, and he’s done it for a long time.”
