In the 2023 edition of the Mahomes greatest postseason victory tournament, Game 3 features the 8 seed 2023 Chiefs/Jaguars matchup vs. the 9 seed 2019 Chiefs/Colts matchup. This one is interesting to me, because it’s the first game of the tourney where I’m not super confident about which game will win going in. VOTE for your favorite game of the two, the winner (poll closes Friday), will advance to Saturday's first Round 2 matchup against the 1 seed 2023 Chiefs/Eagles Super Bowl.
Game A: 8 seed AFC Divisional Round: Chiefs vs. Jaguars: Arrowhead Stadium, January 21, 2023
Coming into this game, our fandom felt more cool and collected before a divisional round than the suddenly many divisional round matchups I can remember as a fan. This weekend was once the unquestionable place where our playoff dreams went to die. From the beginning of my fandom, it was the deepest place we could go and where our story ended. It was amazing how much changed in five years - because in spite of the Jags pulling off an equally heroic and hilarious comeback against the Chargers the week before, the only concern I saw in conversation were the late hits the Jaguars had put on KC players in the regular season. This comfort looked justified when Mahomes traipsed his way with an utterly brilliant first drive down to score 7. All of that comfort instantly disappeared when our worst fears came to life when Mahomes took a low (arguably intentional) blow and came up with a terrible limp. Like he did against the Browns 2 seasons ago, Chad Henne went into Chad mode, Pacheco went into franchise running back mode, and the Chiefs scored 7 in arguably the most important drive of the season. Chad then left in true Chad fashion, and Mahomes took the field against the odds after halftime and was asked to deliver the game with one leg.
While Mahomes second half heroics might be best remembered — the team had major players step up at critical moments (Watson, Henne, Pacheco, Clark, Kelce) and rally around our QB to deliver us final victory Mahomes needed to defeat every AFC South team in the playoffs and advance for the redemption game against the Bengals.
Watch Game Highlights Here:
Spoiler!
Game B: 9 seed AFC Divisional Round: Chiefs vs. Colts: Arrowhead Stadium, January 12th, 2019
There was an intense amount of nervous energy going into this game. It is difficult to remember now, but it seems fitting that Patrick’s first ever playoff test would be against who was, without a doubt, the rainmaker of our playoff past. A rematch that summoned memories of player KC fans are not even allowed to name, of a game that featured no punts, another that featured no KC first downs in an entire half, and one that featured the largest blown lead in playoff history (that personally put my fandom in purgatory for a year and change). The Chiefs were also staring down the very QB who recovered a stripped ball at the goal-line for a diving touchdown and orchestrated that comeback. Compounding those nerves was that our record-setting passing quarterback as a West-Texas boy who was scheduled to play in the snow for the first time (in the middle of a blizzard), against a team with a running game built to shred our defense. It had all the signs of being set-up to be a typical Kansas City disappointment. Mahomes crushed all of those fears, learned that the snow improved his game, and had an assassin like precision on his first two drives to make it 14-0 out of the gate. And despite your typical special teams blocked punt to give the Colts a TD and a turnover deep in our own territory, Mahomes coasted to a signature blowout win in his playoff debut. A win that buried the demons of our playoff past and signaled to all KC fans that we were in a new era in our franchise.
As an added note, Mahomes beating Luck in the playoffs soon would take a much deeper meaning in the NFL. This rivalry soon transformed as the first QB Mahomes was compared alongside to be the next Brady-Manning rivalry into Andrew Luck’s official retirement game from the NFL - ending Luck’s career in the exact place Big Ben would three years later.
Watch Game Highlights Here:
Spoiler!
VOTE for your favorite game!
For the complete bracket and rules, see here:
Spoiler!
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
It's the offseason. I'm bored. It kind of hit me like a brick this weekend that assuming Patrick Mahomes wins the QB competition over Blaine Gabbert and starts the first game of the 2023 season, Patrick will officially have been the starting quarterback for KC longer than Alex Smith. That doesn't feel right, but nonetheless it's made me reflect on what Patrick has brought to this franchise that I had never experienced before him: postseason dominance. This best appreciated by the fact that in KC’s first 49 years of existence, they did not host a single AFC Championship Game. In Patrick’s first 5 years as a starter, they’ve hosted 5.
Thinking about this has led to me making a bracket of all of Patrick Mahomes' postseason wins with Kansas City. I will make each competition into a thread, and Chiefsplanet will vote on what their favorite postseason victory was in each round... until finally we get to a winner.
A thread like this would have been insane to even fathom here before the Mahomes era, so I wanted to make this in celebration of his time so far in Kansas City.
Seeding was determined as follows: the deeper in the postseason it was, the higher the seed. Tiebreakers were determined by how close the game was. The closer the game, the higher the seed. Overtime games, since ending at a tie in regulation, automatically went the highest in the seeding for that round in the playoffs..
If 1. Rain Man hasn't already done this, and 2. Chiefsplanet doesn't tell me to suck a big ol' chili dog, the first game in the bracket will start tomorrow (6 Seed Chiefs vs. Bills Divisional vs. 11 seed Chiefs vs. Steelers Wild Card). The matchups for Round 1 can be found below.
The Jags game was more dramatic and added to the legend of Mahomes (playing through injury)… but I am going with the Colts game.
First playoff win for Mahomes, first playoff win for the Chiefs at Arrowhead in forever, beating the hated Colts, ending Andrew Luck’s career, etc. [Reply]
Jags game was one of the ones I felt the least good about. Everything worked out great and it was damn impressive, but felt like our season might’ve been fucked at the time.
I went Colts, because what better way to break our home playoff win drought than by destroying THAT franchise? [Reply]
That's a really tough one. The Jags game on one leg created a legendary narrative through the postseason. But he also had help from Henne on one key drive.
The Colts game was so important to the franchise. Came out strong -- in what would be classic Mahomes -- built a big lead, dealt with a little adversity but didn't fold, and cruised to victory. We weren't used to that in Chiefs playoff games.
I think I'm voting for Colts, but I could argue either way. [Reply]
The Colts game easily. Our first home playoff win after like 6 consecutive defeats. That was the official end to the pre-Mahomes era. Against the Colts no less.
I remember raising my hands to the ceiling while laying on my back on the carpet when Darrell Williams scored that final TD to seal the game. We also had a huge snowstorm the day before so I was basically snowed in but didn't care. That will always be one of my favorite memories. [Reply]
Voted Colts. First play-off win at home in like forever, against the team that had been responsible for so many of our playoff/non-playoff losses. [Reply]
As much as our self confidence would lead us to predict that we would steam-roller every team we face (cue: paper thin coyote peeling off the pavement), the fact is that a game where we face adversity (scoring deficit, key injuries, etc) are much more compelling and entertaining. Jaguars. [Reply]
Colts. The feeling I had after that game simply wasn’t matched by 2022 where it was a “been there, done that” kind of thing.
45-44, Colts, 0-4, historic record of 0-5 at Arrowhead in Divisional round, 10-7, all that shit. The previous 2 playoff games (Titans, Steelers). The lack of AFCCG appearances in Chiefs history. Also 14-10. Also no punt game. “You’ll go one and done.” The media narrative that the Colts (and Luck) would be better in the weather than the Chiefs and Mahomes.
All that shit washed away in one snowy afternoon. A complete asskicking for 60 minutes.
I went with the Jags game though I understand why many will choose the Colts. It was our first home playoff win in decades.
For me though, I just remember when Mahomes went down hurt, and I immediately thought, "Wow, season is gonna end like that. So many ways to NOT win a SB." And then that 98-yard drive from Henne puctuated by the long Pachecho run just kept enough of the door alive.
The only real drama in that Colts game was before it ever started when we were just worrying about whether the curse would get us again and why we had to face the hot "buzzsaw" team. [Reply]
The Colts game was the first home playoff win since Montana. It was a win that began shifting the culture. I remember leaving that game just thinking "Holy shit, we actually did it. I got to see us win a playoff game and go to the AFC Championship."
Mahomes broke curses that day. For the first time in my adult life it hit me that we could ACTUALLY go win a ring. [Reply]
One of the biggest moments in the Colts game came after the blocked punt TD. There was this like “ah man, here we go” type of feeling when that happened.
… and then Mahomes hit Kelce for 30 on the first offensive play after and drove down the field to get 7 more. It was like every time the Colts got a window it was slammed shut by Patrick and the team throughout the game. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
One of the biggest moments in the Colts game came after the blocked punt TD. There was this like “ah man, here we go” type of feeling when that happened.
… and then Mahomes hit Kelce for 30 on the first offensive play after and drove down the field to get 7 more. It was like every time the Colts got a window it was slammed shut by Patrick and the team throughout the game.
Also, when Watkins fumbled deep in their own territory late in the third, that was a chance for the Colts to make things interesting. But two plays later, Dee Ford got a sack/fumble of Luck.
Previous Chiefs teams would've shit the bed in either/both situations. [Reply]
