Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce led the celebrations as the Kansas City Chiefs scrapped their way to a win their final regular season game against the Chargers on Sunday.
With a playoff berth secured, Chiefs coach Andy Reid decided not to dress his stars as they made their trip to Los Angeles for the finale.
The Chiefs went down 12-10 late in the fourth before stealing the game with a 41-yard field goal conversion from Harrison Butker. Kansas City edged out the Chargers 13-12.
Despite not getting in gear, Mahomes and Kelce did their bit for the team as they played a hard fought game against their AFC West rivals.
Kansas City (11-6) trailed by two points after Cameron Dicker made his fourth field goal of the day, a 20-yarder with 4:06 remaining that gave Los Angeles (5-12) its only lead of the game. But Blaine Gabbert ran for gains of 25 and 14 yards to put Butker in range for the game-winner.
The Chiefs were given one more reason to celebrate in the third quarter after captain and defensive back Chris Jones unlocked his contract incentive with his 10th sack of the season. Mahomes and Kelce joined the team’s eruption as Jones secured a $1.25m bonus with the tackle on Stick.
Kansas City got off to a red hot 6-1 start this season before losing five of the eight games that followed.
Fortunately, the Chiefs will go into the playoffs behind consecutive wins to close the season. Kansas City will be the third seed in the AFC and host a wild-card round game next weekend.
Gabbert completed 15 of 30 passes for 154 yards with an interception for the Chiefs in place of Mahomes.
Chargers quarterback Easton Stick hit on 28 of 47 passes for 258 yards and also rushed for 77 yards on 13 attempts. But he misfired on a fourth-and-3 pass from the Los Angeles 33 with 13 seconds left to seal the outcome.
The Chargers outgained the Chiefs 353-268 but still lost their fifth straight game. After a 4-4 start, they dropped eight of their last nine.
The only touchdown came via the Kansas City defense on Los Angeles’ first drive. The Chargers smartly drove to the 4 but Stick fumbled on a scramble. Mike Edwards lugged it 97 yards to give the Chiefs a 7-0 lead at the 4:56 mark of the first quarter.
Butker capped Kansas City’s best drive of the day – 12 plays, 66 yards – with a 22-yard field goal with 4:03 left in the first half that upped its lead to 10. Los Angeles got on the board with Dicker’s 49 and 40-yard field goals in the final 2:43, cutting its deficit to 10-6 at the break.
