Mahomes shines as Chiefs clinch AFC’s top seed by strolling past Steelers

Patrick Mahomes threw for 320 yards and three touchdown passes, leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a 29-10 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday. This win secured the Chiefs the top spot in the AFC for the fourth time in seven years.

The two-time Super Bowl champions jumped out to a quick 13-point advantage and never faced serious pressure from the Steelers (10-6), who have now lost three games in a row, further diminishing their chances of winning the AFC North.

In the first half, Mahomes threw touchdown passes to Xavier Worthy and Justin Watson, while Kansas City's defense played a crucial role, even with star defensive end Chris Jones resting due to a calf injury. The Chiefs managed to sack Russell Wilson five times, created two turnovers, and showed no signs of fatigue despite having played three times in just 11 days.

Travis Kelce made eight receptions totaling 84 yards, marking him as the third tight end ever in NFL history to achieve 1,000 catches, alongside legends Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten. He secured Kansas City's fifth consecutive win by catching a 12-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

The 35-year-old marked the occasion by leaping and scoring over the goal post, resulting in a penalty for unsportsmanlike behavior and audible discontent from the full house at Acrisure Stadium, where fans have become accustomed to watching Mahomes dominate their local team. With this latest win, Mahomes has improved his record to 4-0 against the Steelers, boasting 17 touchdown passes and just one interception.

Russell Wilson passed for 205 yards while playing for Pittsburgh. George Pickens had three catches for 50 yards, returning after missing three games due to a hamstring injury. Unfortunately, this performance fell short for the Steelers, who suffered three consecutive losses against strong teams like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Kansas City, all of which are vying for the Super Bowl.

What’s even more concerning than the defeats themselves is how they unfolded. The Steelers suffered defeats in every game by a margin of at least 14 points and might have to kick off the playoffs as visitors. This comes after they had a comfortable two-game lead in their division just three weeks prior.

Despite dealing with an ankle injury from the game against Cleveland, Mahomes showed no signs of being affected as he guided the Chiefs to touchdowns on their opening two drives. He connected with Worthy for a seven-yard touchdown pass in the flat and then found Watson in the back corner of the end zone, bringing the score to 13-0.

Late in the first quarter, a particular play captured Pittsburgh's struggles for the day. After Jaylen Warren had a short touchdown run called back due to a holding penalty, Wilson attempted a pass into crowded coverage in the end zone on the very next play. Kansas City's Justin Reid capitalized on the mistake and easily intercepted the ball, extinguishing the scoring opportunity.

The Steelers managed to narrow the gap to six points on two occasions, with scores of 13-7 and 16-10, but they never got the opportunity to move ahead in the second half. Meanwhile, the Chiefs, who had struggled through the first few months of the season with close calls in many games, gradually built a more comfortable lead.

Kareem Hunt rushed for a touchdown from 2 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter, extending the score to 22-10. On Pittsburgh's following drive, Pat Freiermuth lost control of the ball. Kansas City linebacker Nick Bolton recovered the fumble, and Patrick Mahomes quickly completed a pass to a wide-open Travis Kelce after just four plays, sealing the game.

NFL's Netflix Launch On Christmas Goes Smoothly

On Wednesday, Mariah Carey started off the double-header with a recorded performance of her hit song "All I Want for Christmas is You," right before Mahomes, Kelce, and the Chiefs faced off against the Steelers.

The Houston Texans are set to face off against the Baltimore Ravens in the second matchup, as the NFL highlights four of the top five teams in the AFC.

In May, Netflix signed a three-year deal to air games on Christmas Day. The streaming platform anticipates that this occasion will be one of its most significant days since it was established in 1998.

Netflix, with 282.3 million subscribers across over 190 countries, is now offering NFL games for streaming. This marks the first instance of a single platform broadcasting NFL games worldwide. The games are accessible in five different languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.

On November 14, Netflix faced difficulties while broadcasting the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight. The event saw a high of 65 million simultaneous streams, with 38 million of those coming from viewers in the United States. Reports from Down Detector indicated that around 85,000 viewers experienced issues, including outages and streaming problems, both before and during the match.

Early on Wednesday, everything seemed fine during the game, despite a few hiccups in the pregame show. The broadcast began with about ten seconds of dead air, likely because studio host Kay Adams' microphone was muted.

The most significant challenge is expected to take place during halftime of the Ravens-Texans game, featuring a live performance by Beyoncé at NRG Stadium.

As reported by NFL Media, fans from every state in the country started watching just moments after the pregame show began, and people from almost 200 nations tuned in to catch the excitement leading up to the kickoff.

For the first time since December 2, 2020, when the Steelers and Ravens had to play due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the NFL is hosting games on a Wednesday. Prior to this, the only instance of the league holding a Wednesday game since 1948 was in 2012, when the Giants faced off against the Cowboys in the opening game of the season.