By Nate Taylor, Zac Jackson and Lauren Smith
A week after clinching their ninth consecutive AFC West title, the Kansas City Chiefs added another win Sunday on the road with a 21-7 victory over the Cleveland Browns. But the win was overshadowed as Patrick Mahomes left the game with an ankle injury with less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Backup Carson Wentz entered the game on the Chiefs’ next drive, though Mahomes remained on the sideline.
“It’s sore,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of Mahomes in a postgame news conference. “It’ll literally be day to day. He probably could’ve gone back in. He wanted to go back in. There was no need for that.”
Mahomes threw for 159 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
The Chiefs (13-1) never trailed in a fourth consecutive win, posted their highest margin of victory this season and collected a season-best six takeaways, including four interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
Cleveland running back Nick Chubb exited the game in the third quarter with a broken foot, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed after the game. The Browns (3-11) were also briefly without Myles Garrett after the star defensive end left the field with an eye injury late in the second quarter. Garrett returned to the game during the next defensive series.
McDuffie picks off Jameis in the end zone!
📺: #KCvsCLE on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/0uElNrSaik— NFL (@NFL) December 15, 2024
Chiefs collect season-best six takeaways
After this victory in cold, rainy Cleveland, every member of the Chiefs should thank Browns quarterback Jameis Winston. The Chiefs’ defense harassed Winston all game and were rewarded over and over again with takeaway after takeaway.
With a season-high six turnovers, the Chiefs were finally — after two months full of one-score victories — able to breathe comfortably in the fourth quarter for a blowout victory, especially by their standards.
In the first quarter, Winston saw Mahomes throw deep into double coverage and couldn’t wait to do the same thing. The difference was that Winston’s pass was intercepted as safety Bryan Cook made an impressive leaping catch in the end zone. Linebacker Leo Chenal punched the ball out of Chubb’s hands (which was recovered by linebacker Drue Tranquill).
Linebacker Nick Bolton took the ball away from Chubb for an interception to start the third quarter. Cornerback Trent McDuffie collected his first-career interception. Jaden Hicks later intercepted a Dorian Thompson-Robinson pass to end Cleveland’s final drive.
Entering Sunday’s game, one of the issues for the Chiefs was their inability to manufacture takeaways. Even with a 12-1 record, the Chiefs had produced just 10 turnovers, tied the third fewest in the league. — Nate Taylor, Chiefs beat writer
Mahomes to JuJu gives the @Chiefs an early lead!
📺: #KCvsCLE on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/cXIN0P1SDL— NFL (@NFL) December 15, 2024
Offensive line change
For the fourth time this season, the Chiefs started a different player at left tackle, the position most responsible for protecting Mahomes’ blind side. Reid elected to have Joe Thuney, the All-Pro left guard, switch to the left tackle instead of playing second-year left tackle Wanya Morris in place of D.J. Humphries, who sustained a strained left hamstring injury last week.
With Thuney at left tackle, Mike Caliendo, who had yet to start a game this season, was inserted into the five-man lineup at left guard. The results for the Chiefs were overwhelmingly positive through three quarters. Mahomes was never sacked, a rarity this season, and Thuney was effective in one-on-one matchups against defensive end Myles Garrett, who entered Sunday with 11 sacks, 22 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Mahomes didn’t commit a turnover and his second touchdown, a 6-yard pass to Noah Gray, featured him having plenty of time in the pocket to survey the field. But bizarre play calling from Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy throughout the third quarter, with a 21-0 lead, led to Mahomes taking more hits than he should have.
Instead of running the ball, the Chiefs ran six passes late in the third quarter, all leading to incompletions that combined to take less than a minute off the clock. Another strange decision from Reid, keeping the offense on the field for a fourth-and-3 snap from the Browns’ 39-yard line, was the reason Mahomes didn’t finish the game.
Mahomes was hit low by defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson before colliding with another defender while trying to complete a pass in the middle of the pocket. Mahomes hobbled off the field after the incompletion and needed to have both of his ankles re-taped by the athletic training staff.
While the rest of his teammates dapped up the Browns once the game was over, Mahomes was the first Chiefs player to enter the tunnel, a decision he likely made in an effort to get his ankles further evaluated. — Taylor
Four interceptions for Browns offense
You live by Winston, and you die by Winston. Specifically by the crippling interception, of which Winston threw two on Sunday. He threw three total interceptions as part of a big day for the Chiefs’ defense that included six takeaways. Any blueprint for the Browns upsetting the Chiefs needed to include limiting turnovers and likely winning the turnover battle, but once in each half Winston killed promising drives with badly telegraphed interceptions in the end zone.
Winston was really good for the Browns’ two upset wins of Baltimore and Pittsburgh earlier in the season, but he’s sunk multiple comeback attempts with his interceptions. The Browns benched Winston in the final eight minutes Sunday for Thompson-Robinson, and at 3-11 it’s probably fair to expect the Browns will play Thompson-Robinson for the rest of their lost season. — Zac Jackson, Browns beat writer
Jeudy over 1,000 receiving yards for season
Browns wide receiver Jerry Jeudy had another big day with 11 catches for 108 yards. Jeudy is now over 1,000 receiving yards on the season for the first time, and he’s continuing the finest stretch of his career. Jeudy has at least 70 receiving yards in six of Winston’s seven starts, and after Jeudy claimed that he’s been “open my entire career,” he’s now consistently getting open and creating big plays.
During that wild Monday night game in Week 13, Jeudy went from 29th in the NFL in receiving yards to the top five with a 235-yard night, one of just two 200-yard receiving performances in the NFL this season. He’s been one of the few bright spots in this miserable Browns season, and he’s now gotten to at least 100 receiving yards three times in the last five games. He had five 100-yard games over his first four seasons in Denver. — Jackson
Required reading
(Photo: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)
