Mahomes Postseason Tourney Round 1B: Chiefs/Browns 2021 vs. Chiefs/Texans 2020

[Chiefspants]

In the 2023 edition of the Mahomes greatest postseason victory tournament, Game 2 features the 7 seed 2021 Chiefs/Browns matchup vs. 10 seed 2020 Chiefs/Texans matchup. VOTE for your favorite game of the two, the winner (poll closes Thursday), will advance to the next round against the 2 seed 2020 Chiefs/49ers Super Bowl.

Game A: 7 seed AFC Divisional Round: Chiefs vs. Browns: Arrowhead Stadium, January 17, 2021

Chad Henne sealed the deal for the Chiefs to get to another AFC Championship game �� @PatrickMahomes @Chiefs pic.twitter.com/Yk3Kay5CnW

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) January 17, 2021

Since Mahomes has redefined what's possible at the QB position in the NFL, the media has been desperate to find him a rival to be the next "Brady-Manning" Hell, even I was guilty of this at one time (but not about Mayfield). In this time, the Browns were the media's heir apparent to become the Chiefs new rival, and Baker Mayfield was selected to be Mahomes' new "Brady-Manning" opponent.

With that said, Mahomes-Mayfield's college rivalry, this playoff game, and the season opener a year later, did live up to that billing. After struggling to finish the season and concerning reports about Mahomes health and Butker's reliability, the Chiefs started out with a 19-3 lead despite a missed extra point and missed field goal. A critical Sorenson forced fumble at the goal line set us up to coast at the half. However, Mahomes was knocked out early in the third quarter. Could the Chiefs defense and journeyman backup Chad Henne hold off a suddenly elite looking Baker Mayfield with a vintage Kareem? Jump back in to see an epic finish to an oft-overlooked playoff classic.

Game Highlights:

Spoiler!

Game B: 10 seed AFC Divisional Round: Chiefs vs. Texans: Arrowhead Stadium, January 12th, 2020

The greatest comeback in franchise history happened in the playoffs at home.

Let that sink in... pic.twitter.com/eg3aWv81f4

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 15, 2020

The year before Mayfield-Mahomes were determined to be the next Brady-Manning, Mahomes faced off against his 2019 "Brady-Manning" opponent, Deshaun Watson. This rivalry started when the Chiefs famously traded up to select Mahomes OVER Watson in the 2017 draft and the Texans front office looked like they were left trawling the bar after the 2 am last call went out. Before Mahomes crushed the Brady-Manning comparisons by the 2020 opener, there was considerable anxiety going into this playoff game. Watson was crowned as having that "just win clutch gene" by the media and members of our own forum, and had handled Kansas City in Arrowhead earlier that year. The Chiefs had all the signs of playoff disappointment, with Chris Jones getting injured in a locker room basketball game that had all our local media up in arms, to our star receivers dropping passes, our special teams lighting off classic postseason disasters, and us finding ourselves down 0-24 against the immovable 50 years of Kansas City playoff disappointment. But then unstoppable force Patrick Mahomes entered the fray, and the rest is history.

Game Highlights:

Spoiler!

VOTE for your favorite game!

For the complete bracket and rules, see here:

Spoiler!

Originally Posted by Chiefspants

It's the offseason. I'm bored. It kind of hit me like a brick this weekend that assuming Patrick Mahomes wins the QB competition over Blaine Gabbert and starts the first game of the 2023 season, Patrick will officially have been the starting quarterback for KC longer than Alex Smith. That doesn't feel right, but nonetheless it's made me reflect on what Patrick has brought to this franchise that I had never experienced before him: postseason dominance. This best appreciated by the fact that in KC’s first 49 years of existence, they did not host a single AFC Championship Game. In Patrick’s first 5 years as a starter, they’ve hosted 5.

Thinking about this has led to me making a bracket of all of Patrick Mahomes' postseason wins with Kansas City. I will make each competition into a thread, and Chiefsplanet will vote on what their favorite postseason victory was in each round... until finally we get to a winner.

A thread like this would have been insane to even fathom here before the Mahomes era, so I wanted to make this in celebration of his time so far in Kansas City.

Here's the seeding:

1 - Chiefs 38 - Eagles 35 SB57 22-23
2 - Chiefs 31 - 49ers 20 SB54 19-20
3 - Chiefs 23 - Bengals 20 AFCCG 22-23
4 - Chiefs 35 - Titans 24 AFCCG 19-20
5 - Chiefs 38 - Bills 24 AFCCG 20-21
6 - Chiefs 42 - Bills 36 OT AFCD 21-22
7 - Chiefs 22 - Browns 17 AFCD 20-21
8 - Chiefs 27 - Jaguars 20 AFCD 22-23
9 - Chiefs 31 - Colts 13 AFCD 18-19
10 - Chiefs 51 - Texans 31 AFCD 19-20
11 - Chiefs 42 - Steelers 21 AFCWC 21-22

Seeding was determined as follows: the deeper in the postseason it was, the higher the seed. Tiebreakers were determined by how close the game was. The closer the game, the higher the seed. Overtime games, since ending at a tie in regulation, automatically went the highest in the seeding for that round in the playoffs..

If 1. Rain Man hasn't already done this, and 2. Chiefsplanet doesn't tell me to suck a big ol' chili dog, the first game in the bracket will start tomorrow (6 Seed Chiefs vs. Bills Divisional vs. 11 seed Chiefs vs. Steelers Wild Card). The matchups for Round 1 can be found below.

BYES:
1 - Chiefs 38 - Eagles 35 SB57 22-23
2 - Chiefs 31 - 49ers 20 SB54 19-20
3 - Chiefs 23 - Bengals 20 AFCCG 22-23
4 - Chiefs 35 - Titans 24 AFCCG 19-20
5 - Chiefs 38 - Bills 24 AFCCG 20-21

First Round Matchups:

Monday:
6 - Chiefs 42 - Bills 36 OT AFCD 21-22 vs. 11 - Chiefs 42 - Steelers 21 AFCWC 21-22

Tuesday:
7 - Chiefs 22 - Browns 17 AFCD 20-21 vs. 10 - Chiefs 51 - Texans 31 AFCD 19-20

Wednesday:
8 - Chiefs 27 - Jaguars 20 AFCD 22-23 vs. 9 - Chiefs 31 - Colts 13 AFCD 18-19

[TwistedChief]

The Texans game is going to annihilate the Browns one, but I'd put the Henne run followed by the Henne they're-just-trying-to-draw-them-offsides 4th down play (to Hill) against anything. That was so gutsy by Reid and I still can't believe they snapped the ball.

[Hammock Parties]

The Browns game was more entertaining.

But the Texans game wins, obviously.

But the Browns game, it's up there with 13 seconds for me. We didn't win a SB, but the experience the team got with Henne at the helm there paid off two years later.

[Chiefspants]

It's kind of wild to me that the Browns game, a game that, before the Mahomes era, would have been considered one of the greatest Kansas City postseason moments in the city’s history (that 4th and 1 call with Henne would have been printed on shirts, sold on DVD's throughout the plaza, and have given Reid a lifetime contract after our home playoff futility). Yet that game is getting absolutely walloped (and justifiably so) by a game that was a 20 point blowout by the fourth quarter.

I'm just trying to soak in every bit of how Mahomes has redefined the experience of this fandom.

[FloridaMan88]

The Houston game might be my favorite Chiefs game ever… certainly non-Super Bowl games.

[Gary Cooper]

I'd love to go back and read the GDT when Houston was up 24-0.

[Zebedee DuBois]

Could I voter for the 2nd quarter of the Texans game and the fourth quarter of the Browns game?

I loved the Henne grit to end that game, but I gotta go with the "spot them 24 points and then crush them" game. (when the Texans settled for a field goal, the tide turned)

[Rain Man]

The Browns game is my favorite playoff game, because it was great to see the team stand up when Mahomes went out. It proved that the team is great and not just Mahomes. Also, the Sorensen hit was incredible. That guy had a knack for big plays in big moments. And of course Henne was so clutch at the end of the game.

[BleedingRed]

I was at a family event in Houston with my wife's whole family talking MAD shit.. That first quarter of football felt like forever.

My father in law was talking so much shit.... Then.... I can't even put into words how much shit talking I did the rest of the game.

[Rain Man]

The Texans game is my favorite playoff game, because it's the greatest playoff game ever. I was watching it in a hotel room and it was bringing back bad memories of playoff trauma and I was morose. Then we got the kick return and that beauifully thrown touchdown, and then the Sorensen punt stop and touchdown, and then when Sorensen (and Alex Brown) made the hit on the kickoff I yelled as loud as I've ever yelled in a football game. I thought hotel security was going to knock on my door. At that moment I knew - just knew - that we were going to win. After that it was a bum rush of the Texans and it was so fun to see.

This game also had one of my favorite short touchdowns ever where Mahomes flipped the short pass to Kelce with 30 or 40 Texans surrounding them both. And it was the first emergence of Playoff Frank, who would play a key role in the postseason for years.

That kickoff fumble is one of my all-time favorite Chiefs plays.

[Rain Man]

The poll score is currently 24-0 in favor of Houston. How apt.

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by Gary Cooper

I'd love to go back and read the GDT when Houston was up 24-0.

Courtesy of Jewish Rabbi: https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/show...postcount=3164

Bonus highlight:

“Can’t do it. Gotta leave man. It’s our only hope.”⁣
⁣
This Chiefs fan really left in the 1st quarter �� (via @cpenn4thewin ) pic.twitter.com/rnueqOmdns

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 12, 2020

[Shoes]

For me the Houston game has to be the best Chiefs playoff game minus the Superbowl wins. I think it showed how the history of the Chiefs being yearly playoff disappointments was no longer and that life with Mahomes was going to be different. That gut wrenching feeling that the Chiefs were going to choke another season away, to the script being flipped that Pat is an unstoppable force.

It just felt like in that moment and during the game you knew that the Chiefs were going to win a Super bowl.

[TLO]

Daniel
Sorenson

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi Part Deux

Daniel
Sorenson

That’s how I knew we made it. From Sorensen reading it all the way (and tackling Reid - happy the man got a ring with us this year), to realizing that BOB was still scared ****less of our offense up by 3 scores.