Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs headlines for Wednesday, January 29.
The Chiefs continue to make history | Front Office Sports
Sometimes you just need to make the boring pick. Was it the most prolific statistical season of Mahomes’ career? No. Did the Chiefs offense look clunky at times? Yes. All that said, the Chiefs still managed to go 15-2 to earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC and that’s largely in part to Mahomes’ intangibles to win football games. He’s the reason why they are still playing with a chance to three-peat.
1) Can Jalen Hurts outplay Patrick Mahomes?
As crazy as it might seem to write that, we’ve already witnessed it in a big game — when the Chiefs beat the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. Hurts threw for 304 yards, ran for 70 and accounted for four touchdowns in that 38-35 loss. He also had a costly fumble in the second quarter that Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton scooped up and returned for a 36-yard touchdown. The Eagles need a truly flawless version of Hurts to show up in this contest if they hope to win. It’s important to note that Mahomes was hampered by a high ankle sprain in that game, yet he still threw three touchdown passes and produced a critical 26-yard scramble to set up the winning field goal. Mahomes killed the Bills with his legs in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game as well, scampering for 43 yards on 11 carries and scoring two touchdowns. There’s no question of what he’s prepared to do in a game of this magnitude. The Chiefs have won three of the last five Super Bowls because he’s lined up under center for them. What we don’t know is if Hurts can deliver another game like he did two years ago. He struggled with turnovers earlier this season, then evolved into a game manager who was so risk-averse that there was plenty of chatter about whether Philadelphia’s passing attack would be its undoing in this postseason. Hurts silenced some of that criticism by throwing for 246 yards and a touchdown in the Eagles’ win over Washington in the NFC Championship Game — after amassing 259 passing yards combined in the two previous playoff games — so that was a positive sign. He also proved that the knee injury he sustained in a Divisional Round win over the Rams wasn’t as debilitating as it looked. However, he’s now facing the ultimate challenge, one he’s already encountered. We know what Mahomes can and will do with a threepeat hanging in the balance. Hurts must be even better for Philadelphia to ruin that run at history.
[**10 Quick Facts Following the Chiefs AFC Championship Game Victory Over Buffalo |...
