It wasn’t always beautiful, but in the end, the Kansas City Chiefs made the plays in the second half that pushed their record to 14-1 with a 27-19 victory over the Houston Texans.
The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Houston Texans with a full roster. The victory was much needed for Kansas City, which requires one more win or a Buffalo Bills loss to secure the top seed in the AFC.
At times, the Chiefs looked out of sync on both sides of the ball, but Patrick Mahomes played one of his better games of the year, despite the ankle injury and missing a few open receivers, to lead Kansas City to its 14th win of the season.
Mahomes set the tone early with his 15-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. But his fourth-quarter drive, which ended with a short touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy, was the key to the Chiefs’ victory.
The Texans scored a touchdown on the previous drive when C.J. Stroud threw a dime to Wide Receiver Tank Dell, narrowing the Chiefs’ lead to 17-16. On that play, Dell suffered a serious leg injury that forced him to be taken to Kansas Medical Center.
After that loss, the Texans’ offense cooled, and the Chiefs’ defense began pressuring Stroud and imposing its will on a struggling Texans offensive line.
Hollywood Brown had a successful debut offensively, catching a key fourth-down pass on the Chiefs first touchdown drive.
Still, it was the running back Kareem Hunt, who had a rushing touchdown and ran out the clock in the fourth quarter, and the pass-catching abilities of Samaje Perine, who had a pair of big plays guiding the offense, that set the tone for the offense.
Defensively, the Chiefs struggled in the first half before the Dell injury, but they dialed up pressure, created two more turnovers and a big sack by Williams to end any hope the Texans would make a comeback.
Overall, the Chiefs handled the second leg of their game-scheduling trifecta in 11 days. Winning at Cleveland last Sunday and returning home to defeat the AFC South Champions sets the tone for the AFC to attempt to knock off the Chiefs at home.
For the season, the Chiefs went 8-0 at home, and they played one of their best overall games of the year. Yes, they had some hiccups, but they made plays when it counted, and even after suffering another injury on the offensive line, they just kept matriculating the ball down the field.
On the injury front, Jawaan Taylor left the game with a knee injury, and second-year man Wanya Morris came in and played some of the best snaps of his career against the Texans pass rush.
Chris Jones strained his calf and will have an MRI on Monday to determine whether he will play on Wednesday when the Chiefs travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers on Christmas Day.
Until then, the Kansas City Chiefs will get ready, heal up, watch many films, and hope the New England Patriots can upset the Buffalo Bills so that the Chiefs’ Christmas Day game is meaningless.
