KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes was tired. His last day of 2023 was a work day, and a trying one at that.
As the quarterback and leader of the Kansas City Chiefs, Mahomes engineered another double-digit comeback in a victory, this time over the Cincinnati Bengals. The win achieved what the Chiefs thought would happen just a few days after Thanksgiving Day: They locked up their eighth consecutive AFC West divisional crown and finally clinched a playoff spot.
That night, though, one of Mahomes’ ankles was hurting. One of his shoulders was sore, too. And mentally, he needed a break. The three most prominent members of the Chiefs organization — club owner Clark Hunt, coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach — knew this, even though Mahomes said that night what most veteran quarterbacks say when the regular-season finale is reduced to a meaningless exhibition: the decision will be up to Coach.
Before resting last week, Mahomes experienced the most difficult season of his seven-year career, a 16-game journey that oftentimes left him exasperated.
“You’re not always going to win 14, 13 games every single season,” Mahomes said. “It’s, ‘Can you stay with the process every single day and put your team in the best position to succeed?’ Then, let’s see what happens.”
Before this season, however, Mahomes guiding the Chiefs to that many victories in the regular season was the norm.
This season, the Chiefs won 11 games and entered the NFL postseason as the AFC’s No. 3 seed, their lowest seed since 2018, when Mahomes became their starter. Next for Mahomes and his teammates is perhaps the hardest path to the Super Bowl that they’ve encountered. The Chiefs’ postseason — and their quest to become the league’s first repeat champion in two decades — will begin in the wild-card round with a Saturday prime-time showdown against the Miami Dolphins.
If the Chiefs win the lone home postseason game they’re guaranteed, Mahomes could face a new test next week: His first road playoff game.
“Everything you’ve worked for all season long is on the line,” he said. “Everybody is in the same position. But when you put in the time and effort every single day and you spend time away from your family, it’s for these moments.
“It excites me to have that pressure on you to go out there and try to perform at the highest level. This is what you watch growing up. You watch these playoff games.”
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