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Make that 24 and 29.
Trailing 17-16, Mahomes began Sunday’s final drive with consecutive incompletions to Isiah Pacheco, but bounced back with a short pass over the middle that Xavier Worthy converted into a first down. Two plays later, Mahomes escaped the Chargers’ pass rush to pick up 10 yards well into LA territory as the clock approached the two-minute warning.
But it was a third-and-7 play from the Chargers’ 20-yard line where Mahomes effectively sealed the victory. After escaping pressure, Mahomes lofted a short throw to his favorite target, Travis Kelce, for a first down with a little more than a minute remaining.
Now well in field-goal range, and with the Chargers out of time outs, Mahomes & Co. simply needed to kill the clock before replacement kicker Matthew Wright’s 31-yard kick.
Only instead of splitting the uprights, as injured kicker Harrison Butker has done so many times, Wright’s attempt clanked in off the left upright to seal the 19-17 win and give Kansas City (12-1) a ninth-straight AFC West crown.
The Chargers survived a frightening moment earlier in the game when quarterback Justin Herbert appeared to be seriously hurt being slammed by Kansas City linebacker Nick Bolton.
Herbert collided with Bolton and was shaken up after he scrambled to his right on third-and-10 and threw a deep pass to Quentin Johnston. The fifth-year quarterback remained on the field for a few minutes, with trainers looking at his left leg, and walked slowly to the sideline.
The completion to Johnston was negated by a penalty. Taylor Heinicke replaced Herbert, and the Chargers punted – their sixth straight drive to open the game that ended with a punt.
Fortunately for Los Angeles, Herbert re-entered the game on the Chargers’ next series and ultimately engineered two third-quarter scoring drives to take a 14-13 lead.
Herbert wasn’t bad Sunday, completing 21 of 30 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown throw to receiver Quentin Johnson.
Mahomes had a similar statistical performance, completing 24 of 37passes for 210 yards and a touchdown.
Both passers were sacked three times amid intense pressure for much of the night.
Kelce had a quietly productive game, catching five passes for a team-high 45 yards.
But perhaps no one had a better game than undersized defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton who sacked Herbert twice on Sunday.