Sophia Michaels
The Houston Texans looked prime to beat the doors off of the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday afternoon. Houston scored 21 first quarter points and added a field goal at the start of the second to race out to a 24-0 lead, while Kansas City wasn’t able to get anything going. Add in a pair of special teams miscues that directly contributed to 14 Texans points and everything that could have gone wrong for the Chiefs essentially did.
But football games are quite long, and somehow, Kansas City was able to storm all the way back in the blink of an eye. By the time the first half reached its conclusion, the Chiefs took a 28-24 lead into the locker room. They kept pouring it on during the second half, and bolstered in part by an unreal 41 unanswered points, Kansas City was able to defend its home field and come out on top, 51-31.
NFL history said that this sort of comeback should not have been possible. Never before had a home team fallen behind this far in a playoff game and came back to win, and never before had a team fallen this far behind in an NFL game and gone into the locker room with a lead.
Home teams to trail playoff game by 21+ points after 1st quarter per @pfref:
Dolphins down 24-0 to Chargers 1/2/82 and lost 41-38 in OT
Patriots down 24-0 to Ravens 1/10/10 in 33-14 loss
Washington down 21-0 to Bears 12/8/40 in 73-0 loss— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) January 12, 2020
The #Chiefs are the first team in NFL history, regular season or playoffs, to trail by 24+ points in the first half and be tied or leading entering halftime. #ChiefsKingdom | @Chiefs
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 12, 2020
To continue the history, the Chiefs became the first team in postseason history to go from trailing by at least 20 points in a game to winning it by 20 points.
https://twitter.com/CBSSportsHQ/status/1216502451781668864
Scoring 28 points in a quarter will obviously help this, and thanks to that, two of Kansas City’s most important offensive players put their names in the history books. Travis Kelce’s three receiving scores in the second quarter made history, while Patrick Mahomes’ four touchdown passes in the frame tied history.
Travis Kelce is the first player with 3 receiving TD in a single quarter in a playoff game in the Super Bowl era. @chiefs | #Chiefs | @tkelce
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 12, 2020
On Mahomes, he finished 23-for-35 with 321 yards and five touchdowns through the air with an additional 53 yards on the ground. His yardage totals and passing touchdowns meant he was the first player in playoff history to hit some pretty impressive benchmarks.
Patrick Mahomes is the first player in NFL history with 300+ pass yards, 5+ pass TD & 50+ rush yards in a playoff game.#ChiefsKingdom | @Chiefs
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 12, 2020
It also gave us some franchise history for Kansas City thanks to the magnitude of their comeback.
The largest comeback in #Chiefs history is 21 points.
They trailed by 24 points against the #Texans today.
They lead 28-24…
At halftime.
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 12, 2020
And thanks to the offense getting scorching hot, the Chiefs were the first team in playoff history to find the end zone on seven consecutive possessions.
Patrick Mahomes is the 1st player to throw 5 TD passes in a playoff game before his 25th birthday in NFL history.
Also, according to @EliasSports, the Chiefs are now the first team in NFL postseason history to score a TD on 7 straight offensive drives. pic.twitter.com/vZMVSgLD9k
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 12, 2020
Another side-effect of Kansas City catching fire: they literally ran out of touchdown fireworks at the stadium.
The Chiefs dropping 51 points on a porous Texans defense wasn’t a huge shock, but the manner in which it happened is one of the most stunning things in NFL history. With the win, Kansas City will play host to the surprising Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship Game next Sunday. The Chiefs will be looking for a measure of revenge, as the Titans beat them in Tennessee earlier this year, 35-32.
Written by: Uproxx
