KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes completed a slick behind-the-back pass to Travis Kelce while throwing for 93 yards in two tidy series of work, though the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Detroit Lions 24-23 on Saturday in their preseason game. Detroit rallied to the victory when Jake Bates hit a 43-yard field goal with no time remaining.
Mahomes was 8 of 14 through the air while leading the Chiefs to a pair of field goals against the Lions’ backup defense. He also led Kansas City to a field goal in his only series in its preseason opener against the Jaguars last week. But the highlight of the game came as Mahomes was rolling to his right and started to get pressure from Detroit defensive lineman Josh Paschal.
He zipped the pass behind his back to Kelce, who was dragging across the field, and the completion on third-and-3 at the Detroit 33 was good for a first down and helped to set up an eventual field goal. Mahomes has fooled around with behind-the-back throws in practice but has never completed one during a game. He said on the TV broadcast later that Kelce ran the wrong route so he threw the behind-the-back pass “out of spite.
” It didn’t take long for clips of the pass to go viral. Kelce’s brother and retired Eagles center Jason Kelce tweeted, “The son of a gun actually did it!” Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, added: “That was unnecessary, but beautiful!” Carson Wentz took over for Mahomes and was 5 of 10 for 31 yards with a touchdow.