Houston Texans 14-23 Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce link up to keep Super Bowl three-peat dream alive
18 January 2025, 20:47 | Updated: 19 January 2025, 01:05
The Kansas City Chiefs kept their hopes of a historic third straight Super Bowl win alive as they held off the Houston Texans in a 23-14 Divisional Round win at Arrowhead on Saturday night.
Patrick Mahomes defied gravity with his latest trademark moment of magic as he produced a diving touchdown pass to Travis Kelce to help the Chiefs pull away in the face of a stubborn Texans defense led by Will Anderson Jr in the fourth quarter.
Kelce, such has become a theme to his career in recent years, exploded into life at the sight of playoff football as he set a new NFL record with his ninth-career 100-yard game in the postseason.
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Once more there had been a sense of inevitability to the AFC's No 1 seed and back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion, who saw Texans kicker KaŹ»imi Fairbairn miss a field goal, miss an extra point to tie the game and have a late field goal blocked while also benefitting from two controversial roughing the passer penalties that resulted in points.
At the same time Steve Spagnuolo's rampant defense starred yet again, Trent McDuffie winning his duel against Nico Collins and George Karlaftis collecting three of his side's eight sacks on CJ Stroud.
It marked victory No 300 for head coach Andy Reid as his Chiefs move on to a seventh consecutive AFC Championship Game, where they will meet either Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills or Lamar Jackson's Baltimore Ravens for a place at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
Stats leaders
Houston Texans
- Passing: CJ Stroud, 19/28, 245 yards
- Rushing: Joe Mixon, 18 carries, 88 yards, 1 TD
- Receiving: Nico Collins, 5 catches, 81 yards
Kansas City Chiefs
- Passing: Patrick Mahomes, 16/25, 177 yards, 1 TD
- Rushing: Kareem Hunt, 8 carries, 44 yards, 1 TD
- Receiving: Travis Kelce, 7 catches, 117 yards, 1 TD
Kareem Hunt was responsible for Kansas City's other touchdown on the night as his score helped Reid's side carry a 13-6 lead into half-time.
Houston sought to wear down Spagnuolo's defense in response with a 15-play, 82-yard drive lasting 10.24 to start the second half and culminating in Joe Mixon's 13-yard touchdown run. With a chance to tie the game, though, Fairbairn skewed his extra point attempt wide to leave Houston trailing 13-12.
The drive had seen Stroud move the chains with a scramble on third-and-five, having also linked up with Dalton Schultz and Collins for third-down conversions.
It was the turn of the Chiefs to orchestrate a long clock-chewing drive in reply, not without controversy though as Henry To'oTo'o was unjustly flagged for roughing the passer against a sliding Mahomes to gift the hosts a new set of downs, much to the outrage of the Texans.
Hunt would convert on the ground on fourth-and-one four plays later, before Kelce's catch-and-run for 18 yards moved the Chiefs down to the eight-yard line. Houston's pass rush continued to torment Mahomes and his offensive line, but not even the stretching effort of Mario Edwards could deny the three-time Super Bowl MVP as he tossed an 11-yard touchdown strike to Kelce while leaning at a 45 degree angle mid-tackle.
It rounded off a 13-play, 81 yard possession lasting 7:44 to hand the Chiefs a 20-12 advantage with 11.52 to play.
Spagnuolo magic followed as he dialled up the pressure to suffocate Stroud on a third-and-10 at the Chiefs 40-yard line minutes later, Justin Reid the man to get home to force the incompletion. It prompted the Texans to go for it on fourth-and-10, this time Karlaftis smothering Stroud to blow up the drive with a sack for a loss of 16.
Harrison Butker extended Kansas City's advantage to 23-12 with a 27-yard field goal with three minutes to play, before Leo Chenal blocked Fairbairn's 35-yard attempt to ice the game.
A teary-eyed Chris Jones had served as a beacon of playoff football and its grandeur during the pre-game national anthem, before postseason chaos ensued as Nikko Remigio returned the opening kickoff 63 yards by way of a fumble recovered by Chiefs teammate Samaje Perine.
Amid the chaos Houston's Kris Boyd was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after throwing his helmet, after which he shoved Texans special teams coach Frank Ross in a bizarre moment on the sidelines. Tensions and emotions were running high, and it didn't look like slowing down.
The Texans defense delivered an early marker in reply as they held the Chiefs to a 32-yard field goal from Butker.
It was over to Stroud, who springboarded the next drive with a 34-yard cross-field strike to Schultz before the Texans were left to settle for Fairbairn's 30-yard field goal after McDuffie had broken up a pass intended for Collins at the sideline moments earlier.
The Chiefs were then beneficiaries of the first harsh roughing the passer penalty against Anderson Jr, salvaging a new set of downs amid a stuttering drive. It would eventually amount to Butker's 36-yard field goal after Anderson had beaten Kelce's block attempt to haul down Xavier Worthy on a double reverse trick play attempt on first-and-goal from the eight.
The Arrowhead gods resurfaced once more to blow a 55-yard field goal attempt from Fairbairn wayward, paving the way for Kansas City to take control.
Mahomes connected with Kelce over the middle of the field before seeing his tight end rumble through two tackle attempts on his way to a 49-yard catch-and-run, teeing up Hunt's one-yard touchdown run.
The Texans could only manage a 55-yard field goal from Fairbairn to reduce the deficit to 13-6 at the half after Stroud had been sacked by Tershawn Wharton.
What's next?
The Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs continues on Sunday, with the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Los Angeles Rams, live on Sky Sports NFL from 8pm.
Then, rounding off the weekend is the blockbuster AFC matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens, from 11.30pm.
After the action concludes in Buffalo, we'll know our final four set to battle it out on Conference Championship Sunday, on January 26.
Super Bowl LIX takes place on Sunday, February 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, live on Sky Sports NFL.
(c) Sky Sports 2025: Houston Texans 14-23 Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce link up to keep Super Bowl three-peat dream alive
