NFL Old School Game of the Week: Chiefs Prevail in Mahomes' NFL Debut

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 22 of 35 passes for 284 yards and one interception in his first career NFL start.

 In the spring of 2017, the Kansas City Chiefs made a bold move in the first round of that year's NFL draft as they traded up 17 spots to move from the #27 pick to the #10 pick to select quarterback Patrick Mahomes out of Texas Tech.

Even though they had a starting quarterback in Alex Smith who had helped lead Kansas City to three playoff appearances in four years, the Chiefs and head coach Andy Reid felt they needed a upgrade at quarterback if they were going to end the nearly 50-year drought of appearing in a Super Bowl has the Chiefs had not returned to the big game since they won it in Super Bowl IV to end the 1969 season.

Mahomes would spend the 2017 season on the bench as the backup to Smith, who would start 15 games to lead the Chiefs to the AFC West title for the second year in a row and a fourth trip to the NFL playoffs in five years for Kansas City.

With their position in the 2017 NFL playoffs secured, the Chiefs and Reid decided that Mahomes would get the start in the Chiefs' regular season finale against the Denver Broncos as Kansas City would rest several starters before their AFC Wild Card game against an opponent to be determined.

Even though he would by playing with a bunch of backups, this was Mahomes' opportunity to see the Chiefs what they had in Mahomes and see if he really was their quarterback of the future.

For Week 17, the Chiefs traveled to the Mile High City to take on their division rivals, the Denver Broncos, who hoping to end the season on a positive note as they came into the game with a 5-10 record, with eight of those losses by a double digits margin.

The Broncos were led by head coach Vance Joseph, who was in his first season as the Denver head coach after taking over for Gary Kubiak, who stepped down after the 2016 season to health issues.

The biggest issue for the Broncos in 2017 was their quarterback situation as injuries and poor performances had led to a carousel between Paxton Lynch, Brock Osweiler, and Trevor Siemian as all three players at one point in the season were the team's starting quarterback.

Lynch, who had been inactive for the first ten weeks of the season, because of a injury to his throwing shoulder, would get  the start in hopes of ending the Broncos' seven-game losing streak on a 18 degree day in Denver.

The Chiefs would start the game on offense at their 14-yard-line as Mahomes would throw two straight incomplete passes to set up 3rd & 10 when he found tight end Demetrius Harris for a 51-yard completion to give Kansas City a 1st down at the Denver 35-yard-line.

Following another incomplete pass, Mahomes handed the ball off to running back Kareem Hunt for his only carry of the game, a 35-yard touchdown to give Hunt the season rushing title and Kansas City a 7-0 lead just 53 seconds into the game.

After a Denver three-and-out, the Chiefs got the ball back at their 48-yard-line as Mahomes completed a three-yard pass to fullback Anthony Sherman that got 15 yards added to the play because of a face mask penalty on Broncos linebacker Todd Davis to Kansas City a 1st down at the Denver 34-yard-line when Mahomes threw his first career interception as Denver free safety Darian Stewart picked off the pass intended for De' Anthony Thomas to give the Broncos the ball at their 10-yard-line.

From there, the Broncos would drive 72 yards in 11 plays to set up a 36-yard field goal by Brandon McManus to get Denver on the scoreboard and cut the Chiefs' lead to 7-3 with 5:22 left in the first quarter.

The two teams would trade punts as the game moved into the second quarter when the Broncos would drive down the field behind the right arm of Lynch who completed all five of his passes to five different receivers for a total of 65 yards on the 10-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Lynch to running back De' Angelo Henderson to give Denver a 10-7 lead with 4:56 left in the second quarter.

The Chiefs would begin their ensuing possession at their 27-yard-line as Mahomes would connect with wide receiver Albert Wilson three times for 52 yards to help set up a one-yard touchdown run by Sherman to put Kansas City back on top 14-10 with 1:07 left in the first half.

Denver would get the ball back at their 29-yard-line as Lynch completed passes of 11 yards to wide receiver Demaryius Thomas and 30 yards to wide receiver Jordan Taylor to put the Broncos at the Kansas City 30-yard-line with a chance to get some points before the end of the first half.

However, the drive would end with a turnover as Lynch tried to connect with Taylor again, only to be intercepted by Chiefs linebacker Terrance Smith which allowed Kansas City to run out the clock on the first half and go into the halftime break with a 14-10 lead.

Broncos quarterback Paxton Lynch completed 21 of 31 passes for 254 yards and threw two touchdown passses while being intercepted two times.

After the Broncos punted on their opening possession of the second half, the Chiefs got the ball at their eight-yard-line as Mahomes would eight of his next 11 passes for 73 yards to help Kansas City advance to the half-yard-line where they had a 2nd & goal situation.

But the Chiefs could not punch into the end zone as Sherman would be dropped for a loss on 2nd down which was followed by an incomplete pass on 3rd down, which forced Kansas City to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Harrison Butker to cap off the 18-play, 90-yard drive that took off eight minutes and forty six seconds off the clock and extended the Chiefs' lead to 17-10.

The Broncos would start their next drive at their 25-yard-line with a four-yard run by Anderson to set up 2nd & 6 when Lynch was sacked by Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones which caused a fumble that was picked up by linebacker Ramik Wilson, who took it into the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown to increase Kansas City's lead to 24-10 with 3:04 to play in the third quarter.

Following an exchange of punts, the Broncos got the ball back at their 20-yard-line early in the 4th quarter as they needed two touchdowns to tie the game.

The Broncos were able to drive down to the Chiefs' 11-yard-line until a quarterback sack of Lynch by Kansas City linebacker Tanoh Kpassagnon help push Denver into a 4th & 15 situation where the Broncos had to go for it as Lynch tried to hit wide receiver Isiah McKenzie, only to be intercepted by Chiefs cornerback Terrance Mitchell whose 40-yard return gave Kansas City the ball at their 42-yard-line with 7:02 left in the game and still ahead by two touchdowns.

Figuring they had the game in hand, Reid took out Mahomes and replaced him with quarterback Tyler Bray, whose first snap of the game was supposed to be a handoff to Sherman, only to result in a fumble that was scooped up by Denver linebacker Zaire Anderson, who return it 38 yards for a Broncos touchdown to cut the Chiefs' lead to 24-17.

Bray remained in the game for the Chiefs' ensuing possession which went nowhere as Kansas City would go three-and-out to punt the ball back to the Broncos, who now had a chance to drive for the game-tying touchdown with 5:16 left in regulation and the ball at their 38-yard-line.

The drive began with a 22-yard pass from Lynch to tight end Bennie Fowler for a Denver 1st down at the Chiefs' 40-yard-line which was followed by two straight running plays that only gained three yards to set up 3rd & 7 when Lynch found running back Devontae Booker for a 25-yard gain and a fresh set of downs at the Kansas City 12-yard-line.

A six-yard run by Booker put Denver at the six-yard-line as incomplete pass followed by a run by Henderson that went for no gain set up a do-or-die 4th & 4 from the Broncos' six-yard-line.

That is when Lynch found Thomas in the left corner of the end zone for the six-yard touchdown that with McManus' extra point tied the game at 24 with 2:53 left in regulation.

When the Chiefs' offense came back onto the field to begin their ensuing drive at their 21-yard-line, they did so with Mahomes back at quarterback as Reid hoped the rookie could lead the Kansas City offense down the field to set up a potential game-winning field goal by Butker.

The drive got off to an auspicious start as Mahomes was sacked by Denver linebacker DeMarcus Walker for a seven-yard loss to set up a 2nd & 17 where Mahomes found Wilson for 13 yards to set up 3rd & 4 where Mahomes was able to draw an offsides penalty on the Broncos to give the Chiefs a fresh set of downs at their 32-yard-line.

Mahomes would then complete a 12-yard pass to wide receiver DeMarcus Robinson which was followed by a 13-yard completion to Wilson to put Kansas City in Denver territory at the Broncos' 43-yard-line.

After an incomplete pass on 1st down, Mahomes would go back to Wilson as the two connected for a 14-yard completion to move the Chiefs to the Broncos' 29-yard-line with 1:14 left in regulation and in Butker's range for a field goal.

From there, the Chiefs kept it on the ground as they ran the ball four straight times, gaining 17 yards to move to the Denver 12-yard-line where Kansas City was able to bleed the clock down to four seconds before calling their last timeout and sending in Butker to win the game on the final play of regulation.

Butker would easily make the 30-yard field goal as time expired to give the Chiefs the 27-24 victory to end the Chiefs' regular season with a 10-6 record while dropping the Broncos to a 5-11 record as they ended the season on an eight-game losing streak.

Harrison Butker would hit a walk-off field goal in the Chiefs' 2017 regular season finale against the Broncos.

Joseph would return as the Broncos' head coach for the 2018 season as Denver signed Case Keenum away from the Minnesota Vikings in hopes of turning the Broncos' fortunes around.

However, the Broncos' offensive woes continued as they scored more than 30 points in a game only once in a 6-10 season, which would lead to Joseph's dismissal as the Denver head coach after back-to-back seasons of at least 10 losses, the first time the Broncos had done that since the early 1970s.

As for the Chiefs, their 2017 season would end the following week in the AFC Wild Card round as they coughed a 21-3 lead to the Tennessee Titans, who scored 19 unanswered points to pull out the 22-21 victory as Kansas City lost its sixth straight playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium.

Almost one month after the loss to the Titans, the Chiefs would trade Smith to the Washington Redskins for cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, effectively handing the keys to Mahomes to become the new starting Kansas City starting quarterback.

All Mahomes has done since he became the Chiefs' starting quarterback has thrown for nearly 36,000 yards and 267 touchdown passes while winning two NFL MVP awards(2018, 2022) but more importantly ending the Chiefs' 50-year drought as world champions as Mahomes has led the Chiefs to five Super Bowls, winning three of them with Mahomes being selected as the game's MVP in all three of the Chiefs' victories.