KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Andy Reid doesn’t need to schedule a stress test anytime soon. He seems to get one every week. The Kansas City Chiefs coach saw his…
Andy Reid doesn’t need to schedule a stress test anytime soon. He seems to get one every week.
The Kansas City Chiefs coach saw his third-string kicker doink a 31-yard field goal off the left upright and through for a victory that secured the Chiefs’ ninth straight AFC West title.
It was the Chiefs’ 15th straight win in a one-score game over the last two seasons.
Patrick Mahomes led the two-time defending Super Bowl champions (12-1) on a clock-killing 4 1/2-minute drive to set up Matthew Wright’s fourth field goal. The ball clanged off the upright in the latest narrow escape for Kansas City, which is 10-0 this season in one-score games.
The Chiefs have now had three different kickers make a game-winning field goal as time expired this season. No other team in NFL history has had more than one kicker do so in a single season.
After securing a first down inside of the 2-minute warning, both Mahomes and Reid were content with running out the clock for the potential game winner, rather than trying to score a touchdown and leave time on the clock for Justin Herbert and the Chargers.
“I trusted Matthew, so I was good with where we were,” Reid said. “Percentages are pretty high. I know we won a game in that same situation on the opposite end, so I get it, but he’s a solid gamer, so I wasn’t too worried about it.”
Wright said he wasn’t thinking about the game situation, instead focusing on what he had to do if it came down to his right leg. As the ball headed toward the upright and started drifting left, Wright said his thought wasn’t good.
“It’s not a good one,” he said. “I want it to just go right down the middle, obviously.
