Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs authored yet another comeback win on Sunday, and this one was the most important of the season so far. Kansas City trailed the visiting Colts, 20-9, in the fourth quarter and seemed on the verge of falling below .500. When running back Kareem Hunt fumbled the ball at Indianapolis’s goal line the wind was completely taken out of the Chiefs’ sails and Arrowhead Stadium was silent.
Then something happened, a moment Mahomes would call “special” after the game. It reinvigorated the fans, the Chiefs, and in Mahomes’s view swung the outcome of the game.
During a timeout just after the fourth quarter began, Chiefs star Chris Jones stood on the field and started gesturing to the fans on one side of the stadium to get loud. Then he motioned to the other side to do the same. By the time he was done Arrowhead was roaring like it normally is. The Chiefs’ defense forced the Colts into a three-and-out. Mahomes got the ball back and did the rest, forcing overtime against Indy before pulling out the win in extra time.
“You could feel the energy. I’m telling you. You could feel the energy of the defense, the stadium,” Mahomes said of Jones’s moment, per ’s Jesse Newell. “It was kind of, ‘We’re not going to lose this game. We’re gonna find a way to win.'
“There was a feeling that you had in Arrowhead. You could see the fans were behind us. They didn’t hang their heads because it was a fumble. They said, ‘We’re gonna be with y’all through the end, through this all.’ I thought that was really cool. You could feel that momentum swing in our favor, even after a bad play for us.
“I thought that really did change the outcome of the game.”
Homefield advantage is a real thing in the NFL and the Chiefs boast one of the best. The team is open in talking about how they feed off the energy from the fans in games at Arrowhead. This seems to be the latest instance of that.
“For me, it’s just about keeping the fans in tune, giving them momentum, making it loud, creating chaos,” Jones said afterwards. “And also, it energizes the defense. I think energy is contagious, so you’ve got to continue to promote it, especially critical moments like that in a game.”
It wound up working. The Chiefs are 6-5 entering Thanksgiving, a significant difference from 5-6 given it’s the home stretch of the season. Mahomes totaled over 300 yards passing for only the second time this year. The vibes around KC would have been quite poor if the Colts managed to pull off the win. Instead the team sounds invigorated and ready to push for the postseason.
But the job isn’t done yet. Jones may have to pull this strategy out of his pocket again for the Chiefs; they have very little wiggle room in the AFC playoff picture and need every win they can get.
Mahomes, Jones, and the rest of the Chiefs will next take the field on Thursday against the Cowboys.
