KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Andy Reid doesn’t need to schedule a stress test anytime soon. He seems to get one every week. The Kansas City Chiefs coach saw his third-string kicker doink a 31-yard field goal off the left upright and through for a victory that secured the Chiefs’ ninth straight AFC West title.
It was the Chiefs’ 15th straight win in a one-score game over the last two seasons.
Patrick Mahomes led the two-time defending Super Bowl champions (12-1) on a clock-killing 4 1/2-minute drive to set up Matthew Wright’s fourth field goal. The ball clanged off the upright in the latest narrow escape for Kansas City, which is 10-0 this season in one-score games.
The Chiefs have now had three different kickers make a game-winning field goal as time expired this season. No other team in NFL history has had more than one kicker do so in a single season.
After securing a first down inside of the 2-minute warning, both Mahomes and Reid were content with running out the clock for the potential game winner, rather than trying to score a touchdown and leave time on the clock for Justin Herbert and the Chargers.