Sam McDowell: Five things that stood out about the Chiefs' blowout win vs. Steelers on Christmas Day

Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star on Dec 25, 2024

Published in Football

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A season of down-to-the-wire victories has an outlier.

The adjective, not the noun.

The Chiefs destroyed the Steelers, 29-10, in a Christmas Day game that looked just a tad different than the holiday outing a year earlier.

A week — err, four days — after head coach Andy Reid referred to a win as the Chiefs’ best performance of the season, they one-upped themselves.

Patrick Mahomes was at his best. The defensive line somehow didn’t miss Chris Jones much.

The sum: The Chiefs locked up the No. 1 seed in the AFC, rendering next week’s result in Denver meaningless. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about that. For now, here are the five observations from immediately after the game:

1. Mahomes at his best

You know, there was a time in which this immediate reaction column always led with Mahomes.

Welcome back.

The Chiefs offense looked like a version of its old self, and it’s probably not a coincidence that it coincides with the return of Hollywood Brown. Or that it coincides with the late-season rise of rookie Xavier Worthy.

Remember what this quarterback can do with legitimate weapons? You should now.

Let’s just cycle through the second drive of the game. It would be easy to forget the Chiefs actually faced 3rd-and-11 to open the drive.

It’s not easy to forget the play that bailed them out of it. Mahomes shoveled a pass to Samaje Perine while Perine was lying on the ground.

Perine sprung to his feet and hauled in the catch for a first. Seriously.

One play later, Mahomes hit Justin Watson for a 49-yard completion. Three plays later, he returned to Watson for an 11-yard touchdown.

It was the most Mahomesian drive of 2024.

And it might not have been the Chiefs’ best drive of the day.

Mahomes cooked a top-10 pass defense. It’s the first time this season he’s thrown for at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in the same game.

2. That downfield shot

At long last, they got one.

A downfield shot.

As I mentioned, Mahomes found Watson for a 49-yard completion in the first quarter, and almost all of those yards came on the football’s flight. Watson beat one-on-one coverage, and Mahomes pinned the ball to his chest.

There’s a reason for the favorable coverage, and it’s a reason that is changing the Chiefs offense late in the season.

They had both Worthy and Brown on the field.

If you catch a replay, take a glance at safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. He spots Worthy running a deep route, and sends extra attention toward him, leaving Watson open deep.

Hey, it’s understandable. Watson had not caught a downfield pass all season. He’d been targeted five times on throws of 20-plus yards past the line of scrimmage.

As I said: at long last.

3. Worthy’s late-season surge

A day after Worthy torched the Houston Texans, Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy remarked that “it’s crazy how much it reminds me of the same type of avenue that Rashee (Rice) went through last year.

“It was a little slow for the first four, five, six weeks, and then weeks like seven, eight, nine, 10, you can sense it.”

That’s maybe a bit much.

Maybe.

Worthy isn’t on the Rice level of production — yet — but he’s a completely different player from the guy we saw in September, October and November.

Worthy rolled for the second straight week, hauling in his first eight targets for 79 yards and a touchdown.

Four days earlier against the Texans, he had 65 yards, 61 of which came after the catch and all of which came on underneath routes.

He’s become a more complete player, and he’s playing at a different speed.

4. A healthy turnover streak

The Chiefs navigated the initial 13 games — squeezing 12 wins into the stretch — with only 10 forced turnovers.

They jammed nine into the next nine quarters.

It’s as striking as it is obvious how different everything looks when you’re taking the ball away. The Chiefs actually allowed the Steelers 181 yards of offense in the first half, but they gave up only seven points.

Why? Justin Reid picked off Russell Wilson in the end zone.

“A gift for you,” he said as he blew kisses to the crowd.

Or, rather, a gift from Wilson.

5. Playing without Jones

The biggest matchup concern for the Chiefs: How to replace the production of Jones.

Heck, the Chiefs struggle to generate pressure even with Jones.

Without him?

Uh, no problem?

The Chiefs sacked Russell Wilson five times Wednesday — with Mike Danna (two), Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Tershawn Wharton and George Karlaftis getting sacks.

If they can package that kind of production with Jones on the field, the Chiefs offense won’t be the only unit returning to last season’s late-year form.