Sometimes, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce Are Simply Enough for the KC Chiefs
Certain things in life are inevitable. As the age-old saying points out, death and taxes are two of those factors that won't change. They'll always be there, even as folks attempt to shift their focus elsewhere.
In a world and sport with so many moving parts and dynamic elements, the Kansas City Chiefs' superstar duo of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce is another component that will just keep showing up.
Neither side of the NFL's best combination had completely held up its end of the bargain through five games, yet it didn't matter. When needed the most, Mahomes found Kelce and did enough on offense to escape with wins. Week 6's victory over the Denver Broncos was an example of that, as the Chiefs scored just one offensive touchdown but Kelce had nine catches and 124 yards and helped keep the ball moving all night long. On Sunday afternoon versus the Los Angeles Chargers, the band was back in full force and delivered a vintage performance.
Mahomes completed 32 of his 42 pass attempts in Week 7, throwing for 424 yards and four touchdowns. Ten different players caught passes from him, although no one managed to log even half of Kelce's targets or receptions. The 34-year-old tight end hauled in 12 passes for 179 yards and a score, including a 53-yard catch-and-run that served as a blast from the past. Among Mahomes's career games in the regular season, his yards ranked as the sixth-most. For Kelce, he tied a career-best mark in catches and had his second-most receiving yards in a single game.
The chemistry between Mahomes and Kelce is at its highest point, with both of them seemingly always being on the same page. Part of that is the ability of Mahomes to locate open receivers quickly, but another huge chunk is Kelce having experience as a former quarterback and being able to read coverages the same way his own signal-caller does. No pass-catching weapon gets more freedom to freelance than Kelce, and the result is consistently excellent. Regardless of what ingredients are presented to them by the defense, Mahomes and Kelce work side-by-side to come up with a dish that's sellable in any five-star Michelin restaurant out there.
This level of performance was brewing; it should have been expected by some. Per Next Gen Stats, the Mahomes-Kelce twain had connected on 28 straight targets (dating back to prior weeks) at one point in Sunday's game. Those odds were one in 3,000, otherwise calculated as a 0.03% chance. That isn't the only statistical rarity reached by both players, either. With a touchdown in the second quarter, Mahomes and Kelce combined for their 50th score. That currently ranks fourth all-time among quarterback-tight end partnerships, trailing historically excellent pairings like Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham (51), Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates (89) and Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski (90).
Kansas City's defense certainly deserves a shout for helping bring home the win, as Steve Spagnuolo's unit once again held an opponent below the 20-point mark. The defense has been the overwhelmingly positive story of almost every game this season, though, so it's about time the dynamic duo on the other side of the ball did something to make headlines. Against a bitter division rival, there was plenty of Mahomes magic as the two-time MVP consistently extended plays, altered arm angles or straight-up picked Los Angeles apart from the pocket. There was a sizable serving of Kelce keys as well, with the future Hall of Fame tight end getting wide open numerous times and capitalizing on every single target he got in those scenarios.
In case anyone had forgotten in the weeks beforehand, Sunday was a reminder of what Mahomes and Kelce are capable of accomplishing. It also could have been a teaser for the postseason, considering Kelce has gone over the 100-yard mark in six playoff games and has a touchdown in 11 since Mahomes took over at quarterback. When the two are operating at the height of their powers, there isn't anything that opposing defenses can do to stop them.
In a season that's seen Kelce deal with a pair of injuries and Mahomes go through one of the worst slumps of his career, these last two games were much needed. The most recent one, specifically, was nothing short of brilliant. Above all else, Mahomes and Kelce can still be relied on to work together to create a masterpiece of a performance that leaves the team on the other sideline feeling dejected. That will come in handy down the stretch of this season. Sometimes, Mahomes and Kelce are flat-out better than everyone else and are simply enough for the Chiefs to go out there and do exactly what they want on game days.
