Patrick Mahomes has amassed quite the list of accolades in his still relatively young NFL career, winning two Super Bowls and reaching three in his six seasons as a full-time starting quarterback. However, Mahomes had yet to play a true road playoff game in that span. His only three postseason contests away from home came in the form of Super Bowl appearances.
That streak will finally meet its end Sunday (Jan. 21) as Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs travel to take on the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round of the postseason.
How Patrick Mahomes Avoided Road Playoff Games
One key factor in Mahomes avoiding any true road games in the playoffs has been the Chiefs’ success in the AFC West.
Kansas City has now won eight straight divisional championships, including six in a row with Mahomes as the team’s full-time starter. Those victories have guaranteed the Chiefs a top-four playoff spot each season and at worst a home game in the Wild Card round, if not beyond depending on whether they earned a first-round bye.
It began in the 2018 season. The Chiefs got a first-round bye after topping the AFC and took down the Indianapolis Colts in the Divisional Round before falling in the AFC Championship Game to the No. 2-seeded New England Patriots.
Kansas City qualified as the AFC’s second seed a year later and rallied past the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round. The Chiefs were in line to face the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens in the next round and thus play on the road, but the Tennessee Titans’ upset win over Baltimore kept Kansas City at home on its way to winning Super Bowl 54.
The Chiefs again made it as the AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2020, guaranteeing themselves home games up until the Super Bowl, where they fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kansas City then made it as the second seed in 2021, which again set it up to potentially play the No. 1 seed on the road in the AFC Championship Game. The fourth-seeded Cincinnati Bengals’ upset win over the top-seeded Tennessee Titans kept the Chiefs at home, however, before the Bengals won anyway to reach the Super Bowl.
Another top-seeded finish in the AFC in 2022 guaranteed Kansas City home-field advantage through the AFC Championship Game, and they took advantage with a 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57.
Mahomes has made the most of those home playoff starts as well, going a combined 10-2 at Arrowhead Stadium across his 12 home starts in the postseason. He has gone a combined 302 of 446 for 3,608 yards, 31 touchdowns, and just three interceptions across those games, while going 73 of 118 for 738 yards, five scores, and four picks in three Super Bowl appearances.
MORE: Kansas City Chiefs Depth Chart
Ultimately, Mahomes will have to find a way to do it away from home twice to reach another Super Bowl. Third-seeded Kansas City faces the second-seeded Bills in the Divisional Round, with the winner advancing to face the No. 1 seed Ravens in the AFC Championship.
Time will tell whether those road matchups present too much of a challenge for the Mahomes-led Chiefs to overcome.
Want to predict the results of the 2023 NFL postseason with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? How about looking into in-depth breakdowns of team depth charts or the NFL playoff schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with all that and more!
