Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes discusses gutsy play calls late in AFC Championship win over Bills

Few would've blamed Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had he elected to run the ball three times and then, if necessary, punted it back to a Buffalo Bills team that would've had no timeouts remaining with the Chiefs up 32-29 and under two minutes left in the fourth quarter of Sunday's AFC Championship Game. 

Reid instead twice trusted quarterback Patrick Mahomes to earn a first down with his arm to ice the contest away. Shortly after Mahomes delivered, he spoke with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated about the offensive possession that put the Chiefs into a Super Bowl LIX matchup versus the Philadelphia Eagles.

"[Reid] trusts us," Mahomes explained. "That’s how we’ve built this thing that we’ve built. It’s all about trusting the players to go out and make the plays. We’re conservative in certain moments, we play by the tempo of the game and then we decide. It’s a lot of trust on offense, defense and special teams. That’s what makes us so great, is it’s not just one guy, it’s everybody." 

After the Bills used their first timeout of the second half with 1:50 remaining in regulation, Mahomes somewhat surprisingly dropped back to pass and connected with running back Isiah Pacheco on a dump-off that Pacheco turned into a first down as he stayed in bounds. Later in the drive, the Chiefs were facing a 3rd-and-9 after Buffalo spent its final timeout. 

"If it’s not there," Mahomes said about his mindset before he snapped the ball for another pass play, "I’ll take the sack, punt and let the defense have it with about 25 seconds left. When you’ve been in a lot of games, you understand the process of it. That’s what winners do. We’re good about the time management and the clock management. That’s something we go over the night before the game."

The opportunity Mahomes wanted was, in fact, there for him, as he hit an open Samaje Perine before Perine got past a would-be tackler for one last first down. From there, the Bills could only watch as Mahomes twice dropped to his knee to put the game to bed. 

Mahomes and Reid will now try to help the Chiefs become the first team in NFL history to three-peat as Super Bowl champions. As of late Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Kansas City as a 1.5-point favorite over a Philadelphia side that notched an impressive 55-23 victory over the Washington Commanders in Sunday's NFC Championship Game. 

"There’s a ton of trust, the coaching staff to the players," Mahomes added after the Chiefs claimed their latest conference title. "We prepare ourselves for these moments. Coach Reid, we go over these plays each week. We go over the plays we like and what we think we can go with in certain situations. …Coach Reid has a lot of trust in us, so if we’re going to go down, he’s going to go down fighting. That’s the mantra of our team."