KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Andy Reid remembers quite well the previous time the Texans visited Kansas City for a divisional playoff game.
He was still considered among the best coaches to have never won the Super Bowl. Patrick Mahomes was still a young, record-setting quarterback full of potential.
The Texans had Deshaun Watson, rather than C.J. Stroud, under center and he threw a pair of touchdown passes to help Houston race to a 24-0 lead inside a stunned Arrowhead Stadium.
“We didn’t start off very well,” Reid recalled, “that’s for sure.”
Their finish was nearly perfect. The Chiefs scored 28 second-quarter points and rolled from there to a 51-31 win, which not only sent them to the AFC title game, but provided the momentum that ultimately earned Reid his first Super Bowl title.
“Getting down like that,” Mahomes said, “things could have gone south real fast. I was proud of the resilience of the guys.”
Now, the Chiefs hope another win over the Texans on Saturday can catapult them toward an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title, and their fourth in a six-year span — a run that began with that divisional win over Houston on Jan. 12, 2020.
“I mean, it’s been a fun run up to this point. But we want to get to that ultimate goal,” Mahomes said this week. “We know it’s going to be challenging. So we have to just really focus on the day and how we can get better, and try to win the game.”
The Chiefs (15-2), who earned the No. 1 seed and lone first-round bye, haven’t played many of their starters since clinching on Christmas Day. They chose to rest Mahomes and such stars as Travis Kelce and Chris Jones during a meaningless Week 18 loss in Denver, and risked the potential for rust to set in over 24 days between games against the need to get healthy.
The Texans (11-7), meanwhile, have started to build some momentum after beating the Titans in their regular-season finale and blowing out the Chargers during the wild-card round. They lost in Kansas City the weekend prior to Christmas, but neither team is putting much stock in that matchup — one of three they played during a brutal 11-day stretch.
“That was that week. It’s different circumstances that happened in that particular week,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “Now it’s a new game for me. Fresh start. New game. We will attack it just like it’s our first time playing these guys again.”
This is the sixth time the Texans have played for a spot in the AFC championship game. They have lost every one of the previous five.
“That would be huge. I didn’t know that, but I think that will be a huge accomplishment,” Stroud said. “This team is really motivated to go up there and play some good ball against a great Kansas City team that has been in these moments forever. It is going to take all of us and take a lot of execution to get that done, so we have to be on our A-game.”
Tricky tackle situation
The Chiefs struggled most of the season to protect Mahomes’ blind side, eventually moving All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney outside with Mike Caliendo in his place. The question now is whether they will stick with that lineup or move Thuney back to his natural spot and start D.J. Humphries, a one-time Pro Bowl left tackle who has played just two games because of injuries this season.
