The Kansas City Chiefs won their sixth consecutive AFC West title in defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, as Patrick Mahomes threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns in the victory. Kansas City has had a ridiculous amount of success in the closing months of the year thanks to Mahomes, who had an incredible win-loss record in November, December, and January.
Including playoffs, Mahomes improved his record to 26-1 in those months over the last three seasons. (That .963 win percentage is clearly the best in the NFL.) Mahomes has won 26 consecutive games over the last three years in November, December, and January -- completing 66.5% of his passes for 8,104 yards with 60 touchdowns to 13 interceptions and a 104.6 passer rating in those 27 games.
It's not hard to see why the Chiefs have won three AFC West titles and made two Super Bowl appearances during that stretch.
"I think it's just continuing to try to get better and better," Mahomes said Sunday. "I feel like even in the last few games there's throws here and there that I've been missing, and Coach (Andy) Reid's been preaching with me to kind of work on the fundamentals and get back to who I know I can be.
"Today we had a good day of that, but we can't be satisfied with that. We still have long way to go and I'm going to continue to work on those fundamentals to continue to try to be better and better. When the offensive line is blocking like they are, it makes it a little bit easier for you."
Obviously Mahomes' success is also a testament of the Chiefs' dominance in November, December, and January. Kansas City hasn't lost a game in December since Week 16 of the 2018 season -- a streak of 14 games. The Chiefs haven't lost a game in January (regular season and postseason) that Mahomes has started since the 2019 AFC Championship Game.
There's a reason the Chiefs are so good this late in the season. Nothing is taken for granted.
"We played well today, but this league is so up and down right now that it's crazy," Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. "You've got to be spot on every week. We've obviously got a lot riding here. Every game means something to us and we've got to be even sharper, keep increasing the play. We're going to enjoy this one first and then start working on that."
