St. Joseph Post
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The chances that the Kansas City Chiefs would spend Sunday night celebrating their record sixth straight AFC West title seemed slim last week when Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce headlined an outbreak of COVID-19 within the team.
Turns out, the NFL's hottest team was just fine.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns, and the defense dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 36-10 drubbing at Arrowhead Stadium Sunday evening.
“This is the type of week where it's so great to have an experienced coach like Andy Reid, somebody who is so steady — somebody who has seen virtually everything that the NFL can throw at them," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said. “This was a different challenge, but his preparation is so thorough that they were able to get the guys who were able ready to play.”
More like ready to dominate.
The Chiefs (11-4) remained a game ahead of Tennessee for first place overall in the AFC with their eighth straight win. That would give them the conference's lone first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire had a touchdown run for Kansas City before leaving early in the second half with a collarbone injury. Darrel Williams and Derrick Gore carried the load the rest of the way, Williams running for 55 yards and Gore adding 43 yards on the ground and three catches for 61 yards.
“The guys all played together, which I don't think you can avoid talking about,” Reid said. “The way they supported each other when there was a problem, when something didn't work — everybody just hung together.”
The Chiefs were crushed by a COVID-19 outbreak early in the week — at one point they had 13 players on the active roster and three on the practice squad test positive. They managed to get Hill and several others cleared in time for kickoff, but Kelce was among three starters unable to test out of protocols Sunday morning.
It didn't matter.
After watching the Chargers improbably lose to the Texans earlier Sunday, the Chiefs — who began the season 3-4 — knew they merely had to beat inconsistent and offensively challenged Pittsburgh to wrap up another division title. They made it look easy on both sides of the ball.
The Chiefs went 73 yards on their opening possession with Edwards-Helaire bouncing off Robert Spillane for a score. Pringle scored his first TD after Roethlisberger was picked off on a flea-flicker. Mecole Hardman hauled in a touchdown throw from Mahomes, and fill-in kicker Elliott Fry hit a 44-yard field goal for a 23-0 halftime lead.
“It was us just filling those voids and those places and those spots on the field,” Hardman said, “and doing the best we can.”
The Steelers at that point? Two punts, a pick, a turnover on downs, a missed field goal at the end of the half.
They started the second half watching Diontae Johnson fumble the ball away, too. The Chiefs tacked on another TD when Mahomes found Pringle in the back of the end zone, putting the game away by midway through the third quarter.
The Chiefs visit Cincinnati on Sunday. Kickoff is set for noon central. The game will be carried live on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3) and Q Country 92.7 FM in St. Joseph.
The Bengals (9-6) are currently the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoff picture and sit in first place in the AFC North.