Patrick Mahomes threw for 262 yards and a touchdown, had his helmet shattered when he took a hit in the second half, and led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 26-7 loss to the Miami Dolphins in the fourth-coldest game in the NFL. history on Saturday evening.
The reigning league MVP found Rashee Rice eight times for 130 yards and a touchdown in the wild-card playoff game, and Isiah Pacheco added 89 yards rushing and another score, giving the Chiefs (12-6) their first win in the game past the Dolphins. four postseason meetings.
Harrison Butker added four field goals for the defending Super Bowl champions.
The injury-depleted Dolphins (11-7) looked nothing like the dynamic offense that led the league in yards during the regular season. Tua Tagovailoa was pressured relentlessly by the NFL’s second-ranked defense, wide receiver Tyreek Hill had a 53-yard touchdown catch but was further shut down on his return to Kansas City, and the Dolphins finished with a total only 264 meters.
They haven’t won at Arrowhead Stadium since November 6, 2011, and haven’t won a playoff game since December 30, 2000.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs won their 15th straight home playoff game — not including a trio of Super Bowls. But they’ll head to Buffalo next week when the Bills beat the Steelers on Monday in a game postponed a day by a snowstorm. Otherwise, the Chiefs host Houston, which defeated the Browns earlier Saturday.
It was minus -4F (minus -20C) at kickoff, easily setting a record for the coldest game at Arrowhead Stadium. But it was the wind gusts, which blew through at a speed of more than 40 km per hour and brought the wind chill to a staggering minus 27 degrees, that made the weather truly miserable for almost everyone.
That included pop star Taylor Swift, who showed up again to see her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
At least she was allowed to watch from a locked suite. Most fans huddled outside in parkas, goggles and snow pants, and players sat on the sidelines around the heaters as if they were an oasis in the cold. The National Weather Service warned of what it called “dangerously cold” weather that had blanketed the Midwest.
The cold may have made Mahomes’ helmet so brittle that a hit in the third quarter knocked off a piece of the plastic shell. When officials saw the fist-sized hole, they had Mahomes get a spare helmet from the bench.
The weather didn’t seem to bother Hill, who was playing in Kansas City for the first time since his old team traded him to Miami two years ago. The league’s leading receiver warmed up in a short-sleeved jersey and then scorched the stout Chiefs defense and All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie for his long touchdown reception midway through the first half.
But the Dolphins’ offense otherwise struggled, as it did in a 21-14 loss to the Chiefs in their November game in Germany.
Kansas City was much more efficient, scoring on four of six drives in the first half. Mahomes capped the first with a TD toss to Rice, and as subsequent drives continued to fizzle in the red zone, Butker added a trio of field goals as Kansas City took a 16-3 lead into the intermission.
The Chiefs added another field goal in the third quarter, but it was still a two-possession game early in the fourth when the Dolphins appeared to force another field goal. But a late flag on Christian Wilkins for trailing the passer on third down gave Kansas City another set of downs, and Pacheco plowed into the end zone moments later to give the Chiefs a 26-7 lead.
The Dolphins finally put together a sustained drive after that, but by that point it was far too late. And when they failed to convert on fourth down, they were on their way to their eleventh straight loss when the game-time temperature was 40F or less.
In this case much less.