Anatomy of a play; Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce break the Vikings

Looking at the 3rd and 8 conversion that spelled the end for Minnesota and a win for the Chiefs

They knew. And so did I.

Sitting amongst Vikings fans at U.S. Bank Stadium on a beautiful fall day that featured a lot of great football, fun, and fanhood (shout out to Vikings fans AND Chiefs fans, who had all positive interactions from what I saw), you could feel it in the entire building. It’s hard to describe in that it wasn’t exactly a feeling. And it wasn’t said out loud by anyone. It wasn’t emotional, or loud. It was just this sense of KNOWING. Knowing with absolute certainty.

Knowing that there was no chance Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs were going to walk out off the field anything but winners. The game clock still said there were over five minutes left in the 3rd quarter (an eternity in the NFL), but it might as well have read “00:00” with the Chiefs on top. Because it was over. And we all knew it.

I have no idea if this came through on the broadcast. Maybe it did. And if it did, then you know exactly what play I’m talking about with 5:31 left in the 3rd quarter and the Chiefs facing 3rd and 8 while leading by a touchdown. A Mahomes-to-Kelce conversion saved the drive, as we’ve seen so many times.

There’s a lot going on here, more than meets the eye. This is a play that reflects the greatness of both Mahomes and Kelce, who have been doing things like this for over half a decade and it still doesn’t get old. There are elements of what happens here that are a wonderful glimpse at what has made both of them so much better (and so different) from other players across the league over this historic stretch for the Chiefs. And, as I said to start off, this was the play that started to settle in for Chiefs and Vikings fans alike that this was not going to be a day Kansas City lost. Because it was a play the Vikings, on paper, absolutely should have won. And didn’t.

With all that, it seemed fitting to dust of “anatomy of a play,” something we haven’t done in a while here. It’s exactly what it sounds like; Breaking down a play into multiple parts to show how it worked. And I can’t think of a more fun play to look at than a backbreaking touchdown orchestrated by the ability of Mahomes and Kelce to shift to freestyle jazz mid-play on what was initially a highly designed shot by Andy Reid.

Let’s talk about what greatness looks like in real time.