Super Mariota Bros: How Chiefs Will Adjust Without Daniels

The signature playoff win

The game Mariota won came during a significant turning point in the Chiefs’ franchise history. In the last game of Alex Smith’s Kansas City career, Mariota led the Titans back from a 21-3 halftime deficit in the 2017 wild-card playoffs.

He threw one touchdown pass to himself – hauling in a deflection – then hit Eric Decker on a 22-yard go-ahead touchdown with six minutes left in regulation. And against an offense lacking an injured Travis Kelce, the Titans’ defense did the rest.

“Yeah. I mean, it was just such a crazy swing of momentum,” Patrick Mahomes recalled Thursday. “And there was a couple of plays here and there that kind of changed the whole thing.

“I mean there's just so many plays where you had so much momentum that we didn't capitalize on, which I've learned from, that you can't let those plays completely change the game. You have to find ways to manage that. And so, definitely learned a lesson, even though I didn’t get to play in that game, it was a learning lesson for me on how big football games, big plays really do matter.”

Here's how much the gameplan changed

Big plays will matter when Mariota returns to Arrowhead with the Commanders (3-4) on Monday Night Football (7:15 p.m. CT, ESPN/ABC, KMBC Ch. 9, 96.5 The Fan). And when Steve Spagnuolo found out Mariota would start in place of an injured Jayden Daniels, the defensive coordinator did absolutely nothing.

“I'll be perfectly frank, it didn't change at all,” Spagnuolo said Friday. “And I'll tell you why: I think they did a really good job for their team by getting a backup quarterback who I think fits exactly what they do.

“I don't think they skip a beat in terms of what they're doing offensively. I think Kliff (Kingsbury) just runs the offense because he knows the next guy in there.”

Spagnuolo kicked off his first gameplan meeting with a highlight film of Mariota. The video did all the talking but safety Bryan Cook knew all about the quarterback.

“I would say he's a sleeper,” Cook said Saturday. “I know people don’t talk about as much, but I mean, I watched him when he was at Oregon growing up and seeing how dynamic he was then. And now, having the savviness and obviously the experience being in this league for 11 years now.”

The second-overall selection in the 2015 draft, Mariota will make his 78th career start. In 96 regular-season games, he has 16,610 passing yards, 100 touchdown passes and 57 interceptions. He’s also averaged 5.8 yards per carry with 2,250 career rushing yards and 19 touchdowns.

And, for the first time since Week 3, the Commanders will have both Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel available in the same contest.