KANSAS CITY — A hobbled Patrick Mahomes threw for 195 yards and two touchdown passes to lead the Kansas City Chiefs past the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-20 on Saturday, punching their ticket to their fifth-straight AFC championship game.
Mahomes' would injure his ankle during the first quarter, after getting tangled up with a couple Jaguar defenders while trying complete a pass. He stayed in the game, but his injury became more than noticeable as he hobbled on one leg to hand the ball off to Jerick McKinnon.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid finally made the decision to take Mahomes out to be checked by trainers and sent in back up quarterback Chad Henne in relief.
Henne would make the most of his fill-in duty, helping the Chiefs put together a 98-yard drive and consume over six minutes. Henne would complete five passes during the drive, including his one-yard scoring pass to Kelce to give Kansas City a 17-7 lead with 3:54 remaining before halftime.
A key play in the long drive came on a second-and-10 play where Isaiah Pacheco bolted 39 yards to put the Chiefs at the Jacksonville 4 and set up Kelce's second score of the game.
Kelce had a career-high 14 catches for 98 yards and two scores. His first score came on Kansas City's opening drive where he caught four passes on the drive.
Mahomes would be checked out at halftime, including being x-rayed. After the results came back showing no major injury, Mahomes returned to action and helped lead the Chiefs to another AFC championship game.
Jacksonville, who rallied from a 27-point deficit last week, tried to mount another comeback in the fourth quarter.
Travis Etienne Jr. would score from four yards out to cut the Chiefs lead to just 3 with 11:49 remaining in the game.
Mahomes would add a second scoring pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling that would cap off a 75-yard drive to give the Chiefs a 27-17 lead and ultimately prove to be the game winner.
But two straight turnovers would haunt the Jaguars on their following two possessions.
Jamal Agnew would fumble the ball away on Jacksonville's ensuing possession after a catch at the Kansas City 9. Then Trevor Lawrence would throw an interception on the following possession.
The Jaguars' would get one more opportunity as Lawrence would drive Jacksonville down the field to put Riley Patterson in position to convert a 48-yard field goal and make it a one score game. But the comeback ended when Kansas City recovered an onside kick with 24 seconds to go.
Pacheco lead all rushers, finishing the game with 12 carries for 95 yards for Kansas City.
Trevor Lawrence finished with 217 yards passing with a touchdown toss to Christian Kirk. Travis Etienne ran for 62 yards and to go along with his score.
Jacksonville 7 3 0 10 = 20
Kansas City 7 10 3 7 = 27
First Quarter
KC—Travis Kelce 8 pass from Patrick Mahomes (Harrison Butker kick), 7:56.
JAX—Christian Kirk 10 pass from Trevor Lawrence (Riley Patterson kick), 5:04.
Second Quarter
KC—Harrison Butker 50 field goal, (14:09).
KC—Travis Kelce 1 pass from Chad Henne (Harrison Butker kick), 3:54.
JAX—Riley Patterson 41 field goal, 0:27.
Third Quarter
KC—Harrison Butker 50 field goal, :08.
Fourth Quarter
JAX—Travis Etienne Jr. 4 run (Riley Patterson kick), 11.49.
KC—Marquez Valdes-Scantling 6 Pass from Patrick Mahomes (Harrison Butker kick), 7:08.
JAX—Riley Patterson 48 field goal, 0:25.
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