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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Doug Farrar

The Chiefs have 15 straight wins in one-score games. How do they get away with it?

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are aiming to win their third successive Super Bowl.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are aiming to win their third successive Super Bowl. Photograph: Jay Biggerstaff/USA Today Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs have been living a charmed life all season. Coming into Sunday night’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, the two-time defending Super Bowl champions had already set an NFL record with victories in 14 straight one-score games. And their point differential of +54 was the worst of any 11-1 team in pro football history.

Sunday night was more of the same. The Chiefs got out to a 13-0 lead, and it seemed for a split second that, for once, they would win a game comfortably. Then, the Chargers came back, and there were three lead changes in the fourth quarter – all on field goals. The game-winner was entirely typical for the Chiefs this season: a 31-yard attempt by backup kicker Matthew Wright, who is in for the injured Harrison Butker. Wright’s attempt hooked left, and looked for all the world that it would keep hooking left, leaving Andy Reid’s team on the wrong end of a 17-16 score.

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