The Kansas City Chiefs won their seventh straight AFC West title with a 30-24 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday, thanks to a 26-yard touchdown run by Jerick McKinnon and three touchdowns from Patrick Mahomes.
The Chiefs (11-3) had the ball first in overtime but had to punt after Mahomes was sacked on third down by Blake Cashman. On Houston’s first play, Texans quarterback Davis Mills fumbled on a scramble, and it was recovered by Kansas City’s Willie Gay on the Texans’ 26.
On the next play, McKinnon, who also had a touchdown reception, dashed untouched into the end zone.
Houston (1-12-1) tied it at 24 with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter on a 29-yard field goal. The Chiefs had a chance to win in overtime, but Harrison Butker’s 51-yard field goal attempt was wide right.
Kansas City won for the seventh time in eight games despite two turnovers and a season-high 102 penalty yards.
Mills threw for 121 yards and two touchdowns while splitting time with Jeff Driskel at quarterback. The Texans have now lost nine consecutive games, their longest skid since losing the final 14 games of the 2013 season.
Kansas City’s division title streak is tied with the Rams (1973-79) for the second-longest in NFL history, trailing only the Patriots’ 11-year run in the AFC East from 2009 to 2019.
The Chiefs had been trailing for much of the day and were down by five points early in the fourth quarter when Mahomes scored from 5 yards out. Following that, his 2-point conversion pass to McKinnon gave Kansas City a 24-21 lead.
Mahomes passed for 336 yards and two touchdowns of 20 and four yards. He has 35 touchdown passes this season, making him the fifth player in NFL history to have 35 or more in four or more seasons, joining Tom Brady (6), Aaron Rodgers (6), Drew Brees (4), and Peyton Manning (4). (4).
Mahomes, who grew up in Tyler and attended Texas Tech, played his first NFL game in Texas in his sixth professional season. The majority of the audience consisted of Chiefs fans, many of whom wore his No. 15 jersey. Only a few people wore his scarlet and black Texas Tech jersey.
The Chiefs set a franchise record with 502 yards, their 19th straight game with at least 300 yards and their ninth in a row with more than 400 yards.
For the Chiefs, Travis Kelce had 102 yards receiving and JuJu Smith-Schuster had 88 yards receiving.
The Chiefs led 16-14 after a field goal early in the third quarter and were driving when Tremon Smith forced JuJu Smith-Schuster to fumble, which the Texans recovered near midfield. Initially, it was not ruled a fumble, but Houston challenged the call, and it was reversed.
Houston capitalised on the error when Mills threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Akins on third down to make the score 21-16.
Houston took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Mills connected with Teagan Quitoriano on an 8-yard touchdown pass. The Texans got a first down at the 4 after the Chiefs were flagged for pass interference on third-and-10 two plays earlier.
On Kansas City’s next drive, Mahomes connected with McKinnon for a 20-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
Later in the second quarter, Mario Addison forced a fumble by Isiah Pacheco, which the Texans recovered on the Kansas City 17. Two plays later, Mills scrambled 17 yards for a touchdown, putting Houston up 14-7.
Just before halftime, Marquez Valdes-Scantling caught a 4-yard pass from Mahomes for a touchdown, but the extra point sailed wide left, leaving Houston up 14-13.
