KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City overpowered Cincinnati on Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium to continue its dominance in the AFC West.
Behind 100-yard games from running back Isiah Pacheco and rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice, the Chiefs struggled to find the end zone but still piled up scoring drives in a 25-17 victory against the Bengals.
The win gave Kansas City its division-record eighth straight AFC West crown and all but locked coach Andy Reid’s crew into the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.
Cleared from the NFL’s concussion protocol late in the week, Pacheco was unstoppable in the first half, totaling 123 yards on only eight touches with a touchdown — though the Chiefs again dug a double-digit hole and trailed at halftime.
But don’t blame Pacheco, who had five carries for 88 yards and added three catches for 35 yards, including the second receiving touchdown of his career.
Pacheco finished with 18 carries for a career-high 130 yards, his fourth career 100-yard game and third of the season, and added seven catches for 35 yards.
“Pacheco brought great energy — ran hard, aggressive, wanted it more,” Reid said.
The 165 yards from scrimmage also set a new career-high for Pacheco, who didn't clear to play until Saturday. He was needed with Clyde Edwards-Helaire inactive due to illness and Jerick McKinnon on injured reserve.
“There’s a different energy (with Pacheco) than any other player on the entire team,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “The way he runs the football, the energy that he comes with — there’s a small number of people that have that much intensity when they’re running the football. You’ve got like Marshawn Lynch and Marion Barber, from my old Cowboys days. To be able to run that hard all the time and have that much energy takes a special type of player.”
Meanwhile, Rice took over in the second half, including the longest catch and run of his career — a 67-yard third-quarter game-changer, the team's longest play of the season.
“That’s guys stepping up and making plays happen,” said Mahomes, who finished 21 of 29 for 245 yards with a touchdown and a fumble. “... That’s what we’re going to need, especially when they have that much attention on Travis, is for guys like that to step up and make plays happen.”
Rice finished with five catches for a career-high 127 yards, his second career 100-yard game after first accomplishing the feat Nov. 26 in a win at Las Vegas.
Harrison Butker and the Chiefs’ defense closed out the Bengals, clinching a postseason berth for the 10th time in 11 seasons under Reid.
“I thought we did a lot of great things today. Offensively, I thought we did a great job of letting the game come to us — not trying to force it, not trying to do too much," Reid said.
Kansas City’s streak of division championships (eight) trails only New England’s run of 11 consecutive AFC East titles from 2009-2019 for the longest such streak in NFL history.
The Chiefs have made the playoffs nine straight seasons now, which is tied with the 2002-10 Indianapolis Colts and 1975-83 Dallas Cowboys for the second-longest streak in NFL history behind only the 2009-19 Patriots.
The win also moved Kansas City to 10-6 on the season — the ninth straight 10-win season, tying Reid's squad with the 2002-10 Colts for the third-longest streak in NFL history behind only the 2003-19 Patriots (17) and 1983-98 San Francisco 49ers (16).
With the loss, Cincinnati was eliminated from the AFC playoff picture.
NEW YEAR’S EVE SIX PACK: Harrison Butker went 6 for 6 on field goals, vanquishing the minor demons that plagued him the last two weeks.
The six made field goals set a new career record, while the six attempts tied the most Butker’s had in his NFL career.
“That was incredible — and these weren’t just little chip shots,” Reid said. “These were real field goals.”
Butker, who scored 19 points in the game, outscored the Bengals on his own.
“Obviously, we’ve got to continue to get better in the red zone, but Harrison Butker saved us,” Mahomes said.
Butker was perfect through the season’s first 13 games before missing field goals at New England and against Las Vegas on Christmas Day, but he got back on track against Cincinnati.
Butker connected from 54 and 43 yards late in the second quarter, added a 27-yard field goal in the third quarter and iced the game with 24-, 48- and 46-yard field goals in the fourth quarter.
Asked which kick was the toughest, Butker said, “Probably the last one. It is always tough when you make a field goal and you are excited about it then it is a quick turnaround and you are up again. I do have a routine I like to go through, so sometimes it is shorter than I would like. For that last kick, I had to get ready really fast, but also going that direction is pretty difficult."
He’s now 31 of 33 this season on field goals, including 5 of 5 from 50 yards and longer this season.
Butker kicked five field goals in a game three times as a rookie in 2017 and also had five in a 2020 game.
DEFENSE DIALS IN: Cincinnati scored on its first three possessions in building a 17-7 lead, but the Kansas City defense dialed in from there.
“Nobody gave up hope,” Reid said. “It wasn’t the smoothest early, but the guys battled through and they supported each other.”
The Bengals went three-and-out and couldn’t make something happen in the final 35 seconds before halftime.
Cincinnati then turned the ball over on downs after the start of the third quarter.
The Chiefs had gone three-and-out to start the second half and the Bengals marched 74 yards to the 6-yard line before Willie Gay Jr. blew up a Joe Mixon run up the gut on fourth-and-1 for a 3-yard loss.
“That was a huge momentum shift ... the shift of the game right there,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said.
The Bengals’ offense wilted from there, finishing with only 263 total yards as the Chiefs piled up six sacks and eight tackles for a loss.
"That's a huge play ... it got us rolling," defensive end Mike Danna said.
Linebacker Nick Bolton finished with 13 tackles and George Karlaftis added five tackles, with 1 1/2 sacks, giving him 10 1/2 on the season.
Safety Justin Reid had sacks on back-to-back snaps on either side of the two-minute warning, and, after a fourth-and-18 conversion, Karlaftis and Jones helped close the game with back-to-back sacks for four in a span of five snaps.
“Guys saw an opportunity to seize the moment,” Jones said. “... We knew it was our opportunity to close the game.”
OPENING-DRIVE TD: For only the third time this season and the first time in seven games, the Chiefs found paydirt on the opening drive.
Kansas City found the end zone on its first possession Oct. 8 at Minnesota after a fumble recovery set up a short field.
The Chiefs also scored a touchdown on their first possession against Miami in Frankfurt, Germany, way back on Nov. 5.
Kansas City made quick work of its first possession Sunday, marching 75 yards on seven plays.
Running back Isiah Pacheco had three carries for 46 yards and capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown catch from Mahomes, who completed all four passes for 32 yards on the initial drive.
“It’s always good to start fast,” Reid said. “You want to do that every week. But the most important thing is that you execute, especially this time of year.”
ANOTHER DOUBLE-DIGIT DEFICIT: Kansas City’s defense gave up a field goal and a touchdown sandwiched around the offense’s opening-drive touchdown.
Three plays into their second drive, Chiefs rookie left tackle Wanya Morris got beat around the edge by a Trey Hendrickson speed rush.
As Mahomes tried to step up in the pocket to avoid the pressure and throw, Hendrickson reached out and knocked the ball free at the back of his release.
The fumble, Mahomes’ fifth of the season, set up a penalty-aided 24-yard touchdown for Cincinnati, which led 17-7 at the 6:23 mark of the second quarter.
It’s the fifth time in the last six games that Kansas City has trailed by double digits.
The Chiefs rallied from a 14-point hole Nov. 26 at Las Vegas and also trailed by at least 10 in losses to Green Bay, Buffalo and the Raiders on Christmas Day during a dismal December.
The only game since Thanksgiving that Kansas City didn’t dig a double-digit hole was its win Dec. 17 at New England.
The Chiefs did manage to get two field goals — Harrison Butker was good from 54 and 43 yards sandwiched around a three-and-out — in the final 3:44 to cut the deficit to 17-13 at halftime.
BALL DROPS PREMATURELY: Marquez Valdes-Scantling dragged across the field from left to right and found himself wide open on a shallow crossing route.
Mahomes fired a pass, which arrived a little behind Valdes-Scantling but still hit the receiver in the hands.
The next thing the ball hit was the ground.
On a day known for the iconic ball drop in New York’s Times Square, Valdes-Scantling dropped a possible touchdown and a certain first down on third-and-3, which led to Butker’s 43-yard field goal with 35 seconds left before halftime.
Midway through the third quarter after a fourth-down stop by the defense, Mahomes floated a deep pass down the left sideline for Valdes-Scantling, who won on a slant-and-go to get free.
A diving Valdes-Scantling couldn’t snag the bomb.
This year, the enduring image of Valdes-Scantling, who is in the second year of a three-year deal signed before the 2022 season, remains him lying face down in the end zone, gently tapping his hands on the grass after dropping a deep post that should have stood as the game-winning touchdown against Philadelphia on Monday Night Football in mid-November.
Kansas City can save $12 million against the cap with $2 million in dead money by cutting Valdes-Scantling after the season, according to Over the Cap.
FOOTBALL HISTORY?: It’s impossible to say the last time it happened, assuming it has happened in football history, but Richie James Jr. backpedaled into his own end zone to return a third-quarter punt.
Customarily, punt returners plant their feet at the 10-yard line and don’t retreat from there — much less backpedal all the way to the goal line, catch the ball and then accelerate from the end zone.
But in an unusual season for the Chiefs, that’s exactly what James did.
The result was a 10-yard punt return by James to the Bengals’ 9-yard line — a feat that may be unprecedented in high school, college, NFL, CFL and Arena League football. Who knows?
WAS TAYLOR SWIFT AT THE GAME?: Yes, Taylor Swift attended another game — and the Chiefs are now 6-3 when she’s in the building.
Taylor Swift spending New Year’s Eve with the #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/irTNlcw79j
— Aaron Ladd (@aaronladdtv) December 31, 2023
Swift has been in a suite at Arrowhead for games against Chicago (Sept. 24), Denver (Oct. 12), the Los Angeles Chargers (Oct. 22), Buffalo (Dec. 10), Las Vegas (Dec. 25) and now Cincinnati (Dec. 31).
Swift, who is the “Time” magazine Person of the Year and is famously dating tight end Travis Kelce, also made an appearance during Kansas City’s road games at the New York Jets, Green Bay and New England.
INJURY UPDATE: Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins left the game midway through the first half with a left hamstring injury.
He missed the rest of the half but returned after halftime.
Higgins had a 19-yard catch in the first quarter and wasn’t a factor in the second half.
Early in the third quarter, Chiefs wide receiver Justin Watson left the game with a chest injury but he returned the next drive.
UP NEXT: The Chiefs close out the season at the Los Angeles Chargers. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. CT, the NFL announced late Sunday.
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