"What chance do you think they have of coming back and winning this? What percent?" my friend Ethan asked.
"One," I responded. It was early in the second quarter, and they were down 24-0. Nothing was going right. Players were dropping passes, fumbling punts, getting punts blocked, blowing coverages, missing blocks. It was the worst possible start you could imagine.
I thought about it for a moment, then continued. "But they have Mahomes, so really, ninety-nine percent."
See, there's something special about this kid. The Chiefs haven't lost a game by more than seven points since he took over two years ago. So a 24-point deficit with more than 40 minutes of clock left didn't feel insurmountable the way it did before. In fact, coming back didn't even feel improbable. It almost felt expected.
We were hosting a playoff watch party at our house. We were all sitting there - dejected, quiet, shocked. A few things were said - "What is happening? I can't believe this. What is wrong with them? I don't understand what I'm watching." But the words "Game over" were never uttered. We've all seen Mahomes enough to know that hope is never lost when he's in the game.
So, we tried some of the typical things that sports fans try when things aren't going their way. Superstitions that we try to convince ourselves actually affect the outcomes of games. Turn hats around. Change hats. Switch seats. My daughters even got in on the act. They made little flags that said, "Go Chiefs!" and told us to wave them around. My six-year-old found a Chiefs jersey and hat to put on. Beaming with pride, she showed me her outfit and crawled into my lap.
When Mecole Hardman sparked the team with a long kick return, the energy returned to the room. Moments later, Mahomes threw a strike to Damien Williams to get the Chiefs on the board. The room erupted in celebration. I've never seen people so excited about a touchdown that resulted in their team still being down by 17 points. But I felt it, and I think a lot of us did. This was the beginning of the comeback.
I told my daughter she had to stay in my lap. We all admonished each other not to move from the seats in which we sat during the touchdown or change anything at all. We had to cling to what we had. Our fortunes were changing.
On the ensuing drive, the Texans inexplicably called a fake punt from their own 31-yard line, which Daniel Sorensen snuffed out perfectly. Houston coach Bill O'Brien later admitted that he didn't feel any lead was safe against the Chiefs, and said they felt like they needed to score 50 points to win. (Spoiler alert: even 50 points wouldn't have been enough.)
It took the Chiefs fewer than 30 seconds to score again. Mahomes hit Travis Kelce for a short touchdown. Kelce spiked the ball with authority. Arrowhead went berserk, as did everyone in the room at our party. I ran around the room holding my daughter in one arm while high-fiving everyone with the other. She asked me if I could carry her with one hand again later. I told her I would next time I scored.
On the ensuing kickoff, Sorensen came up huge again, popping the ball right into teammate Darwin Thompson's arms. A couple plays later, I was running around with a child in one arm again as Mahomes connected with Kelce.
The Chiefs had to actually work for the next one, starting from their own 10-yard-line. No problem. Mahomes orchestrated a masterful 90-yard drive, and hit Kelce for a touchdown for the third straight drive. In ten minutes of game time, the Chiefs had transformed a 24-point deficit into a 4-point lead.
At this point, Kansas City had broken the will and spirit of the Houston Texans. There was no coming back from this catastrophe. The Chiefs continued to dominate the remainder of the game, scoring touchdowns on an astonishing seven consecutive drives. Ethan joked that we needed to outline the positions of all the chairs in our living room in tape so we could put them in the exact same spots next week. Or maybe he wasn't joking.
Originally Posted by TwistedChief:
I was numb. Completely numb. I wasn't upset when we were down, but I was resigned to the fact that our season was about to end. My wife is 7.5 months pregnant with our first and I started to think about shifting every bit of my energy in that direction. It brought me some peace and serenity.
I was at the game with Clay, Rabble, 007, and Stevie, and we were all like, "WTF is going in here?" Hardman had the great return and everyone cheered, but it felt kinda hollow. Mahomes strikes with a TD two plays later and the crowd erupts. I still felt kinda empty and said I thought we had some hope if we were down by 2 TDs at the half. Rabble said, "They're gonna put up 28pts in the second quarter like they did against the Raiders." We hugged and I dreamed of that outcome.
Shortly thereafter, it happened.
That's a true story. And Mahomes put the metal to the floor, and none of us looked back.
I definitely thought the game was likely over at 24-0. Just a matter of practicality, & not to be flip about it but honestly when that's the score the team w/ 0 usually loses.
You couple that with the way they seemed to be playing at that point w/ respect to dropped passes & the fumble & rarely as well is it that teams flip a switch & start playing well.
The thought was in the back of my mind that it was possible due to the time left & Mahomes is a stone cold baller but it's still a tall order. B/C of Mahomes you never stop watching.
At 24-7 I thought chances still aren't good. At 24-14 I thought game on. As soon as they recovered the fumble on the following KO I thought the Chiefs were going to win but that it'd be a 4Q fight. At halftime I thought the Texans would regroup & put up a fight but that the Chiefs would win. At 35-24 I thought Houston is toast.
The 1h was the wildest half of football I have ever seen at any level.
Given all of the circumstances it's as impressive a win as the organization has ever had. [Reply]
For the past 15 years or so, my dad comes over to my house and we watch the Chiefs games together. I cherish that time, because I won't get to do that forever. He's in his 80s now. When the Texans scored their third touchdown, he said, "It's over. That's game."
My stomach was in a knot from the first quarter disaster, and because Chiefs, but I said, "If any team can pull off a comeback, it's this Chiefs team. They can score fast and get right back in it."
Glad I got to watch that comeback with my dad. [Reply]
I'll admit it. I thought that it was over. My mind turned to Lin Elliot and to Revis tipping the ball back to Mariota for a TD and to bowing a 23 point lead to Andrew Luck and to the no punt game. I just said that this team truly is cursed. And I turned it off. My Dad was watching and a good buddy kept watching. They texted me when the Chiefs scored. I didn't turn it back on. They texted when they scored again. I thought about it, but didn't do it. Then they texted that the Chiefs were about to score again. I turned it back on and immediately regretted ever turning it off. Fortunately, I got to see everything that I had missed last night on the NFL Network replay. I won't doubt them again. [Reply]
I used to have a different phone number. Verizon somehow lost it for a couple of weeks and I ended up with a new number. By the time that they got my old number back, I had already switched everything for my business and personal to the new my. So, I had them put it on my daughter's phone so that if someone tried to call me on the old number, I could still get it. On Sunday, an old friend from a former job decided to text me on my old number. He thought that it would be funny to ask if I need to be put on suicide watch. Unfortunately, that message went to my daughter who came in to the living room to check on me. She was a little freaked out. I explained to her that I was fine. It was a joke. SMH. My buddy has my correct number now. [Reply]
I knew we were in it when they called the timeout up 21 to bring there field goal kicker in. I yelled that they were up 21 and still playing scared and people nervously laughed around me. I tried to start the “You’re still Houston” chant after the field goal to put them up 24 but no one was having it. They definitely joined in more and more after every touchdown chipped away at the lead.
You could definitely feel the crowd start to lose faith after the first quarter but there were definitely still quite a few of us in the crowd trying to keep the energy up! [Reply]
Never really worried. Stevie and I were chatting about it. Neither one of us felt like the game was going to be a loss. We both had that odd feeling if hope. Something we are not quite used to yet lol.
Went down to twisted when we scored our first TD and told him we are about to see the greatest comeback in Chiefs history. Then it happened. Just incredible. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 007:
Never really worried. Stevie and I were chatting about it. Neither one of us felt like the game was going to be a loss. We both had that odd feeling if hope. Something we are not quite used to yet lol.
Went down to twisted when we scored our first TD and told him we are about to see the greatest comeback in Chiefs history. Then it happened. Just incredible.
That really DID happen. I'm still stunned. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Beef Supreme:
For the past 15 years or so, my dad comes over to my house and we watch the Chiefs games together. I cherish that time, because I won't get to do that forever. He's in his 80s now. When the Texans scored their third touchdown, he said, "It's over. That's game."
My stomach was in a knot from the first quarter disaster, and because Chiefs, but I said, "If any team can pull off a comeback, it's this Chiefs team. They can score fast and get right back in it."
Glad I got to watch that comeback with my dad.
I have 3 daughters... my middle Daughter Mackenzie was the tomboy.. played sports, collected baseball cards and always watched the Chiefs game with me.. My other daughters are just not into football as much..
At 11am I got 2 free tickets to the game... My wife didn’t want to go so I took Mack.. We shared a game and memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life.. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Kman34:
I have 3 daughters... my middle Daughter Mackenzie was the tomboy.. played sports, collected baseball cards and always watched the Chiefs game with me.. My other daughters are just not into football as much..
At 11am I got 2 free tickets to the game... My wife didn’t want to go so I took Mack.. We shared a game and memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life..
Originally Posted by TLO:
I never gave up hope. There were many in discord chat that were doom and gloom (looking at you Glory Dayz, and Pete - amongst others).
Never lost faith. Never will as long as we have Mahomes.
...and Naptown. I honestly think I was being the biggest pussy about it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TwistedChief:
I was numb. Completely numb. I wasn't upset when we were down, but I was resigned to the fact that our season was about to end. My wife is 7.5 months pregnant with our first and I started to think about shifting every bit of my energy in that direction. It brought me some peace and serenity.
I was at the game with Clay, Rabble, 007, and Stevie, and we were all like, "WTF is going in here?" Hardman had the great return and everyone cheered, but it felt kinda hollow. Mahomes strikes with a TD two plays later and the crowd erupts. I still felt kinda empty and said I thought we had some hope if we were down by 2 TDs at the half. Rabble said, "They're gonna put up 28pts in the second quarter like they did against the Raiders." We hugged and I dreamed of that outcome.
I don't have any warm fuzzy stories. I was watching the game in Arkansas about 40 feet from Texas and the only person in the bar wearing Chiefs gear. A table of Texans fans started in on me at 14-0 and I mostly ignored them. They decided they had other shit to do at halftime. [Reply]