The two-time reigning Super Bowl champions need only another win or loss by the Buffalo Bills (11-3) to clinch a top seed and home-field edge throughout the AFC playoffs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
PATRICK MAHOMES THREW for one touchdown and ran for another as the Kansas City Chiefs improved to an NFL-best 14-1 by defeating Houston 27-19.<\/p>\n
The two-time reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs need only another win or loss by the Buffalo Bills (11-3) to clinch a top seed and home-field edge throughout the AFC playoffs.<\/p>\n
Mahomes completed 28-of-41 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown and ran five times for 33 yards and a touchdown, quickly serving notice he had recovered from a high left ankle sprain suffered in a victory over Cleveland last weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo go out there and find a way to win with everybody was a good moment for us,\u201d Mahomes said. \u201cOur offensive line did a great job accepting the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chiefs will play their third game in 11 days at Pittsburgh next Wednesday on Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll get off my feet a little bit and watch some film,\u201d Mahomes said. \u201cThat\u2019s a great defense we\u2019re going to go up against. It will be a great challenge for us so we will be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singer Taylor Swift, the girlfriend of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, was among those watching the team complete an unbeaten 8-0 home season for the first time since 2003.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs won their 11th game this season by eight points or fewer, a stunning success rate in one-score margin contests.<\/p>\n
Mahomes took part in all workouts during the week and his fitness showed early.<\/p>\n
Kansas City safety Jaden Hicks intercepted a C.J. Stroud pass to set up an 11-play, 66-yard Chiefs touchdown drive that was capped when Mahomes ran 15 yards to the end zone, showing no sign of injury.<\/p>\n
The Texans responded on Ka\u2019imi Fairbairn\u2019s 33-yard field goal and Stroud connected with Dalton Stroud on a 10-yard touchdown pass to cap an 82-yard drive ad Houston grabbed a 10-7 lead.<\/p>\n
Mahomes marched the Chiefs downfield on their own 82-yard drive, with Kareem Hunt\u2019s 3-yard touchdown run putting Kansas City back in front.<\/p>\n
Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie picked off another Stroud pass in the final seconds of the second quarter to set up Harrison Butker\u2019s 44-yard field goal, which gave Kansas City a 17-10 half-time lead.<\/p>\n
Only 3:20 into the second half, Stroud tossed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Tank Dell, but the third-year wide receiver suffered a severe left leg injury as he was struck by teammate Jared Wayne in the back of the end zone as he fell to the turf.<\/p>\n
The game was stopped for several minutes with Texans players in tears as Dell, his leg in an air cast, was put onto a stretcher and taken off the field in a cart and directly to a nearby hospital.<\/p>\n
After the emotional delay, Fairbairn missed the extra point kick on Dell\u2019s touchdown, leaving the Chiefs ahead 17-16.<\/p>\n
Mahomes connected with Xavier Worthy on an 8-yard touchdown pass as the Chiefs stretched their lead, but Fairbairn answered with a field goal to lift the Texans within 24-19 with 11:41 remaining.<\/p>\n
A 27-year Butker field goal restored Kansas City\u2019s eight-point advantage and the Texans couldn\u2019t score again.<\/p>\n
In a later game Saturday, the playoff-bound Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4) visit Baltimore (9-5) needing a victory to clinch the AFC North division crown while the host Ravens would clinch a playoff berth with a victory.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs, Bills, Texans and Steelers have already clinched AFC playoff berths while Detroit, Minnesota and Philadelphia have secured NFC playoff spots.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The two-time reigning Super Bowl champions need only another win or loss by the Buffalo Bills (11-3) to clinch a top seed and home-field edge throughout the AFC playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[30,107,1227],"class_list":["post-19459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-pin-point"],"yoast_head":"\n
UNBEATEN: Patrick Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1 - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UNBEATEN: Patrick Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1 - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The two-time reigning Super Bowl champions need only another win or loss by the Buffalo Bills (11-3) to clinch a top seed and home-field edge throughout the AFC playoffs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-22T00:31:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/470984709_1640260280178801_8506411369541709302_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1035\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1294\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459\",\"name\":\"UNBEATEN: Patrick Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1 - News 365\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/470984709_1640260280178801_8506411369541709302_n.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-22T00:31:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-22T00:31:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/470984709_1640260280178801_8506411369541709302_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/470984709_1640260280178801_8506411369541709302_n.jpg\",\"width\":1035,\"height\":1294},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UNBEATEN: Patrick Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"News 365\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798\",\"name\":\"MsNga\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsNga\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=4\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UNBEATEN: Patrick Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1 - News 365","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UNBEATEN: Patrick Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1 - News 365","og_description":"The two-time reigning Super Bowl champions need only another win or loss by the Buffalo Bills (11-3) to clinch a top seed and home-field edge throughout the AFC playoffs.","og_url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459","og_site_name":"News 365","article_published_time":"2024-12-22T00:31:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1035,"height":1294,"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/470984709_1640260280178801_8506411369541709302_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MsNga","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsNga","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459","name":"UNBEATEN: Patrick Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1 - News 365","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/470984709_1640260280178801_8506411369541709302_n.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-22T00:31:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-22T00:31:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/470984709_1640260280178801_8506411369541709302_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/470984709_1640260280178801_8506411369541709302_n.jpg","width":1035,"height":1294},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=19459#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UNBEATEN: Patrick Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/","name":"News 365","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798","name":"MsNga","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsNga"},"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=4"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19461,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19459\/revisions\/19461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}