If you sighed, gasped, cursed or prayed when Patrick Mahomes suffered a ghastly-looking ankle injury late in the first quarter of the Chiefs’ AFC Divisional Round game against Jacksonville on Saturday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, you were in good company.
The transcendent Mahomes, after all, ultimately is what has distinguished the Chiefs from about everybody else in the NFL these last five seasons. So what Chiefs fan didn’t fear the worst in the moment? Both for Mahomes’ health, Saturday and beyond, and the team’s prospects of securing its fifth straight AFC Championship Game berth.
But maybe we should have known better by now.
We don’t mean just because Mahomes stupefyingly later returned, making for a comeback that at once was wince-inducing, awesome and worrisome … including who knows how he’ll respond to that?
We mean because of the pivotal and rather incredible work of backup quarterback Chad Henne — whose play was momentous in real time and also in what it suggests, once more, about his ability to keep the Chiefs afloat when called upon.
Simply put: After not completing a pass in a game that counted since October 2021 (and attempting only two in between), Henne immediately catalyzed a 98-yard touchdown drive without which we might well be writing about the jarring end of the Chiefs’ season instead of their 27-20 victory.
“Phenomenal,” coach Andy Reid called it. “Special,” said Mahomes, noting “that was a big point in the game.”
Shades of the AFC Divisional Round game two years ago, when Henne helped the Chiefs fend off the Browns after Mahomes was knocked out of the game … and later got Henne trending on Twitter with his “#HenneThingIsPossible” post.
Two years later …
“We always say ‘Henne-thing is possible,’” receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said in the locker room after the game.
Including that depending on how Mahomes’ reacts to treatment and how healthy he’s able to stay next week against the winner of the Buffalo-Cincinnati game, Henne could well be called upon again.
Look, there’s no doubt that Mahomes is on another tier and that the Chiefs’ chances to win would be greatly reduced without their most irreplaceable force. Or even by a hobbled version of him.
But Henne not only was crucial to getting the Chiefs through but reinforced that it’s not hopeless if Mahomes’ health becomes an issue.
Because Henne demonstrated once again that he has complete command of the offense, the poise to run it in a chaotic situation and something else vital:
The faith and trust of teammates, who appreciate the 37-year-old’s wealth of experience, depth of preparation and leadership.
“I don’t want to look over how great of a quarterback Pat is and what he means to this team,” said tight end Travis Kelce, whose 14-catch day included four of the five completions and the TD pass Henne threw on the drive that gave the Chiefs a 17-7 lead. “But if anybody goes down it’s next man in. If I go down, it’s next man in.
“It’s just the mentality that you’ve got to have. Especially in a playoff game like this.”
In this case …
‘ “Playoff Chad,’ baby,” Kelce added with a smile. “We keep finding ways to win with him.”
So while they might have sagged with Mahomes’ status a mystery and starting at their own 2-yard-line for Henne’s first play, the dynamic was entirely different than that.
The team, Reid said, responds to Henne because of “the way he handles himself.” So much so, he added, that “they play for him.”
Put another way, they take their cues from him.
Which in this case began with, well, what might be called playfully shimmying and telling jokes to offensive lineman as they took the field, per locker room interviews with Creed Humphrey and Andrew Wylie by The Star’s Jesse Newell.
“He’s not feeling the weight of the game at all,” Wylie said.
And took some of the weight off of them by inducing some laughter in the crucible.
To say nothing of the impact of his command presence and calm demeanor as he enunciated each call and looked players in the eye in the huddle to hold their attention and project his belief in them.
Never mind that Henne said his nerves were running high.
That wasn’t what he conveyed, and his own anxieties promptly dissipated as he simply relied on his experience and preparation.
Easier said than done, perhaps, but that also makes for a mental cocoon of sorts.
“When your number’s called, you’ve just go in there and do what you did in practice and the meeting rooms and you just take it to the game,” said Henne, who entered the NFL in 2008 and has 54 career starts and later added, “It’s not like I’ve never done it before.”
Much as we might all hope he doesn’t have to do it again next week, we got a snapshot of what he could offer if need be.
With certain calls contoured to his style and ranked by coaches for his preferences and skill set, to be sure, but also within the same broad offensive scheme.
“He ran the offense,” Mahomes said, “the way the offense is supposed to be (run).”
As Mahomes spoke of contending with his injury during the game, he said, “Not all things are going to be perfect. You have to find a way to make stuff happen.”
The same could be applied to the need for Henne.
It wasn’t ideal, and it surely wouldn’t be if he’s needed next week.
But, indeed, not all things are going to be perfect. Every part of this journey is an adventure, and it seldom goes to script.
In this case the next chapter comes after the Chiefs drew again Saturday on the notion that HenneThingIsPossible.
That made for a fine reminder at the right time that this game is ultimately about finding a way even when things look bleak.
And that keeping your head when all about you might be losing theirs, as tens of thousands no doubt were when Mahomes left the game, can go a long way toward that.
