Patrick Mahomes threw for 262 yards and a touchdown, but his helmet shattered from a hit in the second half as he continued to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 26-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins (Miami Dolphins), this is the fourth coldest game in NFL history Saturday night history.
The reigning league MVP found Rashee Rice eight times for 130 yards and a touchdown in the wild-card playoffs, while Isiah Pacheco rushed for 89 yards and another score. , helping the Chiefs (12-6) defeat the Dolphins for the first time in the playoffs. Four playoff meetings.
Harrison Butker had four field goals for the defending Super Bowl champions.
The injury-plagued Dolphins (11-7) look nothing like the dynamic offense that led the league in yards during the regular season. Tua Tagovailoa was relentlessly pressured by the NFL’s second-ranked defense and wide receiver Tyreek Hill had a 53-yard touchdown reception but returned to Kansas City Being blocked, the Dolphins ended up with just 264 yards.
They haven’t won at Arrowhead Stadium since November 6, 2011, and haven’t won a playoff game since December 30, 2000.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, won their 15th consecutive home playoff game — not including three Super Bowl titles. But if the Bills beat the Steelers on Monday in a game postponed one day due to a snowstorm, they’ll travel to Buffalo next week. Otherwise, the Chiefs will host Houston, who defeated the Browns earlier Saturday.
The temperature at kickoff was minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius), easily setting the record for the coldest game at Arrowhead Stadium. But wind gusts in excess of 25 miles per hour pushed wind chills to minus 27 degrees, making the weather miserable for everyone.
Among them was pop star Taylor Swift, who showed up again to meet her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
She could at least watch from a closed suite. Most fans crowded outside in parkas, ski goggles and snow pants, while players huddled around courtside heaters as if they were an oasis in the cold. The National Weather Service issued a warning for “dangerously cold” weather sweeping across the Midwest.
In fact, the cold may have made Mahomes’ helmet so brittle that a hit in the third quarter knocked a chunk of the plastic shell off the helmet. When officials saw the fist-sized hole, they asked Mahomes to grab a spare helmet from the bench.
The weather didn’t seem to bother Hill, who was playing in Kansas City for the first time since his old team traded him to Miami two years ago. The league’s leading receiver warmed up in a short-sleeved shirt before catching a long touchdown pass midway through the first half that scorched the Chiefs’ stout defense and All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie.
But the Dolphins’ offense struggled in other areas, like in a 21-14 loss to the Chiefs in Germany in November.
Kansas City was much more efficient, scoring on four of six first-half possessions. Mahomes threw a touchdown pass to Rice to end the first quarter, and although subsequent shots kept failing in the red zone, Butker scored three times in a row to give Kansas City a 16-3 lead at halftime.
The Chiefs added another field goal in the third quarter, but early in the fourth quarter it was still a two-possession game and the Dolphins appeared to force another field goal. But Christian Wilkins roughed the passer on third down, putting Kansas City in trouble again before Pacheco sprinted into the end zone and the Chiefs Lead 26-7.
The Dolphins finally put together a sustained offense, but by then it was too late. When they failed to convert on fourth down, they faced their 11th consecutive loss when game-time temperatures were 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower.
In this case, much less.
