Chiefs get back to the Super Bowl with one-sided defeat of Ravens

BALTIMORE – Patrick Mahomes had conquered every opponent over six glittering seasons as an NFL starting quarterback, and Sunday evening, a fresh victim was left in his wake: doubt. He had piloted the Kansas City Chiefs through a regular season defined by the celebrity in their luxury suites and the stagnation of their offense.

He had walked into the stadiums of his closest rivals the past two weeks as an underdog. He stood Sunday night atop a stage erected in the middle of M&T Bank Stadium, another trophy in his grasp, another dragon slain. His latest triumph doubled as a warning to never, under any circumstances, doubt him again.

Behind Mahomes’ early magnificence and the Kansas City defense’s smothering of presumptive MVP Lamar Jackson, the Chiefs defeated the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens, 17-10, and advanced to their fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years. The Chiefs will enter Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas – Taylor Swift in tow – with the chance to become the first team since the 2003 and 2004 New England Patriots to win consecutive Super Bowls.

“You don’t take it for granted,” said Mahomes, who was 30 of 39 for 241 yards and a touchdown. “You never know how many you’re going to get to or if you’re going to get to any. So it truly is special just to do it with these guys after what we’ve been through all season long. Guys coming together, it really is special. But I told them, ‘The job’s not done.’ Our job now is to prepare ourselves to play a good football team in the Super Bowl and try to get that ring.”

The Chiefs arrived at a familiar destination at the end of a road pockmarked with unfamiliar distress. Mahomes fumed on the sideline. Tight end Travis Kelce moved like a 34-year-old. They suffered through a 3-5 stretch with an offense doomed by unfamiliar shoddiness, unfit tackles and unreliable receivers.

They still had an unkillable quarterback. Josh Allen and Jackson had chances to overthrow him in their home stadiums. The Ravens entered with near-complete health, 11 victories against opponents with winning records, the presumptive MVP and the best point differential in the NFL. The Chiefs’ know-how and Mahomes’ poise triumphed anyway. They may be the NFL’s glamour team, but they are built on pure grit.

The Ravens stayed alive despite bouts of self-destruction as the second half became a defensive stalemate. It was Mahomes who ended it. Just before the two-minute warning, up a touchdown, Mahomes dropped back from his own territory on third and nine and heaved a pass through the mist and fog, deep down the center of the field. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, whose substandard hands had become a talisman for the Chiefs’ maligned wideouts all year, caught the ball for 32 yards while falling on his back.

“It wasn’t hard to call,” coach Andy Reid joked afterward. “Just a couple of words. It was zero blitz. We knew it was going to be zero blitz or at least had a good idea. You never really know, but we thought we knew, and it was and it got MVS in a great position right … to make the play.”

In the press box, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach slammed the table in front of him and slapped hands with fellow executives. For the playoffs, Mahomes has completed 70 of 103 passes for 718 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

After the Chiefs scored touchdowns on their first two possessions and seized a 14-7 lead, the defenses choked the life out of the game. Mahomes built the early by relying on Kelce, who caught all 11 of his targets for 116 yards and a touchdown as Swift watched from a corner suite.

The Ravens’ overpowering season fizzled in a hail of mistakes and a lack of discipline. They committed two post-whistle unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that cost them points and two roughing-the-passer penalties.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo crowded the line and challenged Baltimore’s wideouts. Despite Jackson’s ability to conjure bursts of magic, including a pass completion to himself after the ball was batted into the air, he could not solve the puzzle the Chiefs presented. On his last gasp, Jackson forced a pass into triple coverage. Chiefs safety Deon Bush sliced in front of tight end Isaiah Likely and intercepted a ball that should never have been thrown.

Both defenses forced quarterbacks into rushed throws and wiped out the running game until late in the third quarter. Rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers sneaked down the left sideline uncovered, so open he could field Jackson’s heave like a punt returner before sprinting to the Kansas City 10-yard line.

Flowers drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for spinning the ball on cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, and those 15 yards proved monumental. The Ravens were still trying to score four plays later, on the first play of the fourth quarter. Jackson hit Flowers streaking across the middle inside the 10. Flowers darted upfield, headed in for a pivotal score. Just as he dived for the end zone, Sneed punched the ball loose. The Chiefs recovered it in the end zone. As if to underscore the Ravens’ unraveling, Flowers slammed the bench and cut his hand.

The Chiefs made a mockery of their underdog status from the start. They forced a three-and-out on Baltimore’s opening possession, then silenced a crowd that been worked into a frenzy by pregame dignitaries Michael Phelps, Ed Reed and Ray Lewis.

The Chiefs cleaved through Baltimore’s best-in-class defense for 86 yards in 5:45. Running back Isiah Pacheco broke tackles and found cracks in the Ravens’ line. Mahomes and Kelce immediately established their unstoppability. Rolling right on fourth and two, Mahomes rifled a 13-yard pass to Kelce slanting across the middle. From the Ravens’ 19, Mahomes beamed a pass to the front-right corner of the end zone, where safety Kyle Hamilton was draped over Kelce. The ball hissed to Kelce’s back shoulder, the one spot where he could catch it and Hamilton could not.

Low-grade hostility permeated pregame warmups. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker, perhaps with intent to irritate, placed a tee, his helmet and football downs on the goal line where Mahomes was making warmup throws. Mahomes and Tucker exchanged words. Mahomes kicked the tee out of the way. As Tucker stretched nearby, Kelce chucked Tucker’s helmet and the footballs. Minutes later, Ravens cornerback Arthur Maulet swiped at a member of the Chiefs’ secondary with such fervency that Baltimore assistant coaches stepped between them.

The Ravens had challenged the Chiefs. But they would soon be another victim of Mahomes, another team that should have known better.