The Kansas City Chiefs came back to win a wild one on Sunday, defeating the Houston Texans in overtime for their 11th victory of the season.
Here are some quick notes and facts about the game.
1. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes quietly compiled an outstanding game.
It may get lost due to how the game played out, but Mahomes was tremendous on Sunday. He completed 36-of-41 passes for 336 yards and three total touchdowns in the game (2 passing, 1 rushing) while compiling the highest completion percentage (87.8%) for any passer with at least 40 attempts in league history. It was also his ninth 300-yard passing game of the season, which leads the NFL and is three more than second place.
Mahomes continues to lead the NFL in passing yards (4,496) and passing touchdowns (35) through 14 games. Additionally, he is now just the fifth quarterback in league history to record four or more seasons with 35+ passing touchdowns, joining Tom Brady (6 seasons), Aaron Rodgers (6 seasons), Drew Brees (4 seasons) and Peyton Manning (4 seasons). Remarkably, Mahomes has achieved that feat in four of his five seasons as a starter.
2. Mahomes completed every one of his pass attempts in the second half and overtime.
Mahomes' ridiculous completion percentage was due in part to a perfect performance in the second half and overtime. Mahomes completed all 19 of his attempts following halftime on Sunday, throwing for 172 yards.
He's the only quarterback since at least 1991 to attempt at least 15 passes and record a perfect completion percentage in the second half of a game.
3. Tailback Jerick McKinnon tallied his second-straight game with more than 100 yards from scrimmage.
McKinnon has proven himself to be immensely valuable to the Chiefs' offense this season, and that was once again the case on Sunday. The veteran tailback racked up 122 yards from scrimmage on 18 touches, rushing for 52 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown while catching eight passes for 70 yards and a score. His 26-yard rushing touchdown on the Chiefs' final play won the game.
McKinnon now has back-to-back games with 100+ yards from scrimmage, and his 256 total scrimmage yards over the last two weeks ranks fourth in the NFL. Additionally, his four scrimmage touchdowns in that span are tied for the league-lead.
4. Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling hauled in his second touchdown of the season.
Valdes-Scantling made a tremendous grab on a 4-yard pass late in the first half to haul in his second touchdown of the year. The score took place on third down, marking Valdes-Scantling's ninth reception that moved the chains on third down this season. In other words, 24 percent of Valdes-Scantling's production this season has taken place on third down.
The veteran receiver now has 37 receptions for 632 yards on the season, moving him just one catch and 58 receiving yards shy of career-bests in both categories.
5. Valdes-Scantling's touchdown completed a 97-yard drive for Kansas City.
The Chiefs' 97-yard scoring drive on Sunday was their longest series in terms of yardage since the 2019 season. It was only the seventh drive of 97 or more yards by any team this season, and when factoring in the total scrimmage yardage gained (excluding penalties), the series – at 108 total yards – was the longest by any team this year.
Mahomes found four different pass-catchers on the drive, connecting with Jerick McKinnon (3 catches for 37 yards), tight end Travis Kelce (2 catches for 26 yards), tight end Noah Gray (2 catches for 18 yards) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (1 catch for a 4-yard touchdown).
6. Tight end Travis Kelce made some more history on Sunday.
Kelce continued his march into the record books on Sunday, passing Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe for the fourth-most receiving yards by a tight end in NFL history (10,150). Only Tony Gonzalez (15,127), Jason Witten (13,046) and Antonio Gates (11,841) remain in front of him.
The All-Pro tight end caught 10 passes for 105 yards in the game, marking his 32nd regular-season performance with 100+ receiving yards since 2016. That's the second-most such games in the NFL during that time, trailing only Davante Adams (37).
7. Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is closing in on a 1,000-yard season.
Smith-Schuster compiled another productive game on Sunday, hauling in 10 receptions for 88 yards. It was his seventh game with at least 50 receiving yards this season, and his third with at least nine catches.
He already has his most receiving yards since 2018 (when he racked up 1,426 yards though the air) and is just 150 yards shy of his second-career 1,000-yard season.
8. Tailback Isiah Pacheco continues to gain steam within the Chiefs' offense.
Pacheco rushed for 86 yards on 15 carries in Sunday's game, tallying his sixth-consecutive game with at least 60 rushing yards. Only the Chicago Bears' Justin Fields (8 straight) and Las Vegas Raiders' Josh Jacobs (7 straight) own longer active streaks.
The rookie tailback is averaging 4.9 yards-per-carry this season, and with 677 rushing yards on the year, he has a shot at topping 1,000 yards with three games left to play. He currently sits just 323 yards shy of that mark.
9. Despite some big offensive numbers, it was a pair of defensive plays that led to the victory on Sunday.
The offense racked up 33 first downs – the most by any team in a single game this season – and 502 yards of offense on Sunday, but 10 penalties and two giveaways prevented the Chiefs from consistently turning all of those yards into points.
Fortunately, the defense came up with some huge plays that led to Kansas City's victory. First, the defense held on third down when Houston was just 10 yards away from a potential go-ahead touchdown with five minutes remaining in the game. The Texans had to settle for a game-tying field goal, and while it's fair to consider that circumstances may have played out differently after the fact, it's possible that overtime would have never occurred.
Lastly, defensive end Frank Clark and linebacker Willie Gay teamed up for one of the biggest defensive plays of the year midway through the overtime period. The Chiefs had just punted, meaning that any score would win the game, but Clark strip-sacked Texans' quarterback Davis Mills on Houston's first offensive play of overtime. Gay then showed tremendous hustle to jump into the pile and wrestle the ball into his grasp, ultimately setting up Jerick McKinnon's game-winning touchdown.
10. The victory locked up a seventh-straight AFC West title for the Chiefs.
The Chiefs are AFC West champions for a seventh-straight season, which matches the second-longest stretch of consecutive division titles in the Super Bowl era. Only the 2009-19 New England Patriots (11 straight) and the 1973-79 Los Angeles Rams (7 straight) have compiled streaks of that length since the AFL-NFL merger.
The streak spans two different starting quarterbacks (Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes), and remarkably, only three players have been on the squad for all seven division titles: tight end Travis Kelce, defensive tackle Chris Jones and longsnapper James Winchester.
The Chiefs will now turn the page to a showdown with the Seattle Seahawks this upcoming Saturday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.