KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are an inch and a flag away from being winless two games into their Super Bowl title defense. Instead, they are 2-0 with the tiebreaker over two teams thought to be among their biggest rivals.
The Chiefs certainly seem to be living a charmed life after Baltimore tight end Isaiah Likely landed with a toe out of bounds on a would-be tying touchdown catch on the final play of their game two weeks ago, and a pass interference call on fourth-and-16 on Sunday kept them alive to kick a winning field goal with no time left for a 26-25 win over Cincinnati. Yet the reality is this: Kansas City has been in so many down-to-the-wire situations over the years, especially with Andy Reid on the sideline and Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, that victory almost always seems to be inevitable. Even when they lose running back Isiah Pacheco to an injury in the final minute of a close game.
"Until the time hits zero, I feel like there's a chance that you can win the football game," Mahomes said. "Obviously we've done that in so many different ways, and so we're prepared. We come in with that mentality that if we get the football with a chance to win the game, we're going to do it, and we were able to do that.
" It's difficult to argue that such last-second antics are unsustainable because, well, the Chiefs keep doing it. But what might be unsustainable is poor play from some of their most important players that have put them in such dire situations. Mahome.