The Kansas City Chiefs moved one step closer to an unprecedented ‘three-peat’ after beating the Houston Texans in the NFL play-offs.
After earning a bye for the first round of the post-season, the Chiefs kicked off the Divisional Round at home to the Houston Texans on Saturday.
And the NFL’s two-time defending champions clinched a 23-14 victory to keep alive their hopes of becoming the first team to win three straight Super Bowls.
Led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City have reached the NFL’s championship game four times in the past five years, winning it three times.
Last season, they became the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in 2004 and 2005, and they are back within one win of the big game.
Travis Kelce has also been pivotal to Kansas City’s dynasty and the tight end’s touchdown early in the fourth quarter sealed victory. Kareem Hunt scored their other touchdown, helping them to a 13-6 lead at half-time.
Houston’s kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn spurned two chances to draw level, sending a field goal and extra-point attempt wide, before having a late field-goal attempt blocked.
But the Chiefs were ultimately comfortable winners, meaning they will play in their seventh straight AFC Championship game next week against either the Baltimore Ravens or the Buffalo Bills, who meet on Sunday.
Like last season, Kelce has had a quiet year, yet he continued his remarkable post-season record, with his partner Taylor Swift supporting him at a chilly Arrowhead Stadium.
WNBA star Caitlin Clark, a lifelong Chiefs fan, was a guest in Swift’s suite and they were on their feet from the game’s first play as Nikko Remigio returned the kick-off for 63 yards, fumbling the ball as he was hauled down before Kansas City recovered it.
The Chiefs settled for a Harrison Butker field goal on that opening drive and led 6-3 after two more field goals in the first quarter.
Fairbairn’s next field-goal attempt was caught by the wind and went well wide of the right upright, before Kelce made his first big play.
Mahomes found Kelce down the middle and he kept running for a 49-yard gain, his longest catch of the season, to set up the chance for running back Hunt to punch it in from a yard.
Fairbairn’s second field goal made it a one-score game at the half, and Houston opened the third quarter with a drive of more than 10 minutes.
That culminated in Joe Mixon running into the corner of the end zone from 13 yards, yet Fairbairn kicked the extra point wide so Kansas City still led 13-12.
The Chiefs then stretched their lead on the next drive, with Mahomes finding Kelce three times before demonstrating his athleticism by making an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kelce – while leaning forward at a 45-degree angle.
Kansas City’s defence allowed them to see out the game, with Butker adding his third field goal before Fairbairn’s dismal day continued.
The Chiefs conceded a safety at the death, as Kelce finished with 117 receiving yards and moved within two of Jerry Rice’s all-time record for touchdown catches in the post-season (22).
