KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Matthew Wright’s kick glanced off the left upright and through as time expired, delivering another unique way for the Kansas City Chiefs to win.
“Oh yeah, I saw it hit the upright — bank’s open on Sundays, man,” tight end Travis Kelce said.
It also added another chapter to the history of the Patrick Mahomes era.
The Chiefs already owned the second-longest streak of division titles in NFL history.
After a 19-17 win Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, that streak stands at nine AFC West championships in a row — two fewer than the New England Patriots, who won 11 straight AFC East crowns from 2009 to 2019.
“Just a gritty team win,” said safety Justin Reid, who made four tackles and also handled kickoff duty. “That’s such a talented team on the other side of the ball. They came out with a lot of energy and momentum in the second half. We just had to limit that and our offense got going.”
Kansas City clinched a playoff berth last week.
Now, the Chiefs have won the division and own a two-game lead with four games remaining in the hunt for the top seed in the AFC and a bye into the Divisional Round.
Kansas City led 13-0 at halftime on the strength of two Wright field goals — from 47 and 33 yards — and DeAndre Hopkins’ 9-yard touchdown reception with 47 seconds left before halftime.
Patrick Mahomes finished the first half 18 of 25 for 153 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, but he was sacked three times — an ongoing issue for the Chiefs’ offense.
Chargers QB Justin Herbert, who briefly got knocked from the game in the second quarter, went 10 of 18 in the first half for only 97 yards.
The second half was a different story.
Los Angeles stormed in front with two 4-yard touchdowns in the third quarter, a run by Gus Edwards and a pass from Herbert to Quentin Johnson, before a 50-yard Wright field goal with 13:04 remaining restored Kansas City’s lead.
There would be two more lead changes in the game.
The Chargers retook the lead after an 8 1/2-minute scoring drive capped by Cameron Dicker’s go-ahead 37-yard field goal.
But that 17-16 lead wasn’t enough as the Chiefs marched 47 yards on 14 plays, pulling in front for good as time expired on Wright’s fourth field goal of the game— a 31-yarder.
“I wanted it to go right down the middle obviously, but I’m just happy it went in," Wright said.
Mahomes connected with Kelce for a 9-yard gain after a bootleg to the right on third-and-7 on the first play after the two-minute warning, allowing Kansas City to run out the clock and improve to 12-1 overall.
“When it counted, we took care of business there,” Andy Reid said.
Mahomes finished 24 of 37 for 210 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Kelce led the Chiefs with five catches for 45 yards.
WHARTON’S BIG NIGHT
Tershawn Wharton is a workout marvel.
“He’s one of the strongest cats.” Justin Reid said. “There’s not enough weights in the gym for him. Literally, when he squats, the whole weight room stops to watch him. That’s how strong he is.”
The only person who doesn’t seem to be impressed is Wharton himself.
“They think it’s heavy, but it’s not really heavy to me — putting 500 or 530 on it during the season ain’t too much,” Wharton said.
During the offseason, Wharton said he’ll squat north of 600 pounds.
Kansas City's veteran defensive tackle, also known as “Turk,” only had 9.5 career sacks in 67 games entering Sunday and never more than one in a game.
His 2.5 sacks this season were a career-high, which he has now obliterated after his first career multi-sack game.
“Huge — overcoming the ACL last year, the guy is just a beast over there in the middle,” Justin Reid said. “... Just to see him put in that work and see the football gods reward that on the biggest stage is fun to see. He had a helluva game.”
Wharton sacked Herbert once in each half and now has 4.5 sacks this season — trailing only Chris Jones and George Karlaftis, who have five sacks each on the season, for the team lead.
Wharton’s second sack helped stall out a long Los Angeles drive — 14 plays covering 57 yards and devouring 8:29 of the fourth-quarter clock — that resulted in a go-ahead field goal with 3:32 remaining.
“That last one, me and (defensive end) Felix (Anudike-Uzomah) talked about it and he did what I told him to do and I kind of fell into that one,” Wharton said.
DJ HUMPHRIES MAKES CHIEFS DEBUT
Left tackle DJ Humphries signed with the Chiefs late last month. The former Pro Bowler with Arizona suffered a torn ACL last year and spent the offseason as a free agent before he was medically cleared.
Kansas City didn’t wait long to turn to Humphries amid ongoing struggles with both tackle spots.
The Chiefs drafted Kingsley Suamataia in the second round out of BYU last spring and anointed him as the starter during the offseason.
That lasted two games before Wayna Morris took over at left tackle, but he’s struggled with a knee injury and ineffective play as well.
So, 12 days after he officially signed, Humphries took his turn protecting Mahomes’ blindside against a pass rush that includes Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa and Bud Dupree.
“Initially, it was fast for him then he settled down and I thought the second half he was playing well,” Andy Reid said.
Humphries got beat on a speed rush to the outside by Bud Dupree, but Mahomes stepped up in the pocket and got the pass off.
The Chiefs gave Humphries help later in the drive, chipping with Kareem Hunt on obvious passing downs, against Bosa, who generated no pressure on Mahomes on those snaps.
That was a theme for the game, giving Humphries extra help, but it's to be expected given how new he is with the team.
“He’s still learning the playbook,” Mahomes said. “He knows how to pass protect; that’s the easy part. He knows how to run block, but the pass-off game with new guys, to know where he can cheat and get subtle cues on my cadences — he truly is just out there playing football, taking one-on-one reps.”
Fortunately, he's lined up next to an All-Pro left guard to help ease the transition.
“He’s a good player,” left guard Joe Thuney said. “We were just communicating the whole game.”
Humphries and right tackle Jawaan Taylor struggled to give Mahomes time early in the game.
Humphries committed a false start early in the second quarter before he settled in.
Unfortunately, he also left the game on the final drive, though Andy Reid didn't provide an update on his status.
Morris replaced Humphries with 3:32 remaining, when he was knocked from the game due to injury.
“He’s a great professional, always ready to go and works so hard,” Thuney said of Morris.
REMIGIO GETS HIS SHOT
Nikko Remigio was added to the Chiefs’ active roster when Mecole Hardman Jr. landed on injured reserve Saturday and made his NFL debut a day later.
After spending last season on injured reserve and three months this season on Kansas City's practice squad, it was a joyous moment for the former California and Fresno State star.
“It definitely gets monotonous and kind of redundant,” Remigio said. “There’s times that you definitely question if that opportunity will come, but it’s something that my fiancée and I have prayed on the entire season.”
Remigio’s first NFL touch was a 9-yard punt return midway through the first quarter.
“I had nothing going through my mind,” Remigio said. “I felt extremely prepared and extremely comfortable. Really, I give a lot of credit to Coach Toub and the system they have running here at the Chiefs.”
Remigio learned Friday morning that he would debut on Sunday Night Football after Hardman's injury.
“It was a pretty quick turnaround,” he said.
Remigio’s dad, fiancée and a friend who is working with him on a mini documentary managed to make the trip on short notice.
It was a nice return, but he electrified the crowd even more early in the second quarter with a 21-yard punt return.
Remigio said he definitely felt “juiced up” for the game: “I did, for sure. This is the first one and, listen, this is a childhood dream of mine. To get that opportunity, there was a lot of emotion involved.”
He finished with three punt returns for 34 yards.
After Los Angeles scored a touchdown to open the third quarter, Remigio returned the kickoff 25 yards, but a penalty left Kansas City backed up for its first drive of the third quarter.
He averaged 26 yards on two kickoff returns.
“It felt amazing — and against my hometown team, too,” Remigio, a 25-year-old from Orange, California, said. “It was a lot to take in, but ultimately I’m just extremely grateful.”
BREATHING ROOM
Kansas City already had a small victory before kickoff with Buffalo’s loss at the Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams and Chiefs used to share a state, so maybe it shouldn’t be a shock they’d help their former Show-Me State brethren by downing the Bills 44-42 in arguably the game of the year so far this season in the NFL.
The loss allowed Los Angeles (7-6) to keep pace with Seattle (8-5) in the NFC West, while dropping Buffalo to 10-3 overall.
The Bills own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Chiefs after last month’s win at Highmark Stadium, so any losses dealt to Buffalo help in the quest for the top seed and all-important bye.
“I was aware of that, but, at the end of the day, we control our own destiny,” Justin Reid said. “You don’t ever want to be a in a position where you want or need help or you don’t want to think you have a little bit of cushion, especially in December football because it’s so close to the playoffs. This is the time of the year where you’ve really got to be hitting the gas as hard as you can.”
Pittsburgh (10-3), which hosts Kansas City on Christmas Day, also lurks in the race for the No. 1 spot in the AFC.
But at 12-1, the Chiefs are firmly in control and even have some leeway now should they stumble with three of their final four games being on the road.
UP NEXT
Kansas City travels to Cleveland for a noon kickoff next Sunday.
The Browns made the playoffs last season, but are a disappointing 3-10 this season.
Those wins include upsets against Baltimore and Pittsburgh at home, so Cleveland will be eager to play spoiler once again.
Jameis Winston is capable of thrilling and ridiculous touchdowns and equally thrilling and ridiculous interceptions, so it should be an eventful game.
WAS TAYLOR SWIFT AT THE GAME?
Taylor Swift missed her first Chiefs home game of the season, but she had a good reason.
The “Eras Tour Era” ended Sunday night in Vancouver, so Travis Kelce’s girlfriend was a little busy. But she’ll have some free time now ahead of Christmas and Kansas City’s chase for an unprecedented three-peat.
Swift had attended every other home game this season — wins against Baltimore, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Denver and Las Vegas — before Sunday night, but she has yet to appear at a road game in 2024.
The Chiefs are 16-3 during the last two seasons with Swift in attendance, including a 11-game win streak dating back to late last season.
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