2022 Kansas City Chiefs

• QBPatrick Mahomes
• RBIsiah Pacheco
• WRJuJu Smith-Schuster
• WRMarquez Valdes-Scantling
• TETravis Kelce

You remember when Kansas City traded Tyreek Hill and everyone wondered if the Chiefs had finally gotten worse. The AFC had spent years trying to catch them. Now Hill was gone to Miami, Davante Adams had joined the Raiders, Russell Wilson was in Denver, and Khalil Mack had landed with the Chargers. For the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, Kansas City looked like the team that had lost something while everyone around it added more. The question followed them into September: what would Mahomes look like without the most explosive receiver in football?

Everything started with Patrick Mahomes. Travis Kelce became even more unavoidable. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Jerick McKinnon, and eventually rookie Isiah Pacheco filled different roles, but there was no replacing Hill with another Hill. So Kansas City changed. Mahomes spread the ball everywhere, Andy Reid kept creating answers, and Kelce remained the player everyone knew Mahomes wanted when the game tightened. On defense, Chris Jones wrecked pockets while Nick Bolton became the heartbeat in the middle. The Chiefs weren't as dependent on outrunning everyone anymore. They had become harder to solve.

Kansas City finished 14-3 and earned the AFC's No. 1 seed. Mahomes threw for 5,250 yards and 41 touchdowns and won his second MVP. Kelce caught 110 passes for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns. Pacheco went from a seventh-round rookie to their leading rusher. The offense everyone wondered about without Hill finished first in the NFL in both yards and points.

Then Mahomes hurt his ankle. Jacksonville came to Arrowhead in the divisional round, and Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain in the first quarter. He fought to stay in before finally disappearing into the locker room. Chad Henne replaced him and led a 98-yard touchdown drive. Mahomes returned after halftime, limped through the rest of the game, and Kansas City survived 27-20.

Then Cincinnati came back to Arrowhead. The Bengals had ended Kansas City's season there a year earlier. They had beaten the Chiefs three straight times. Cincinnati's mayor was talking. “Burrowhead” was everywhere. And Mahomes was trying to reach another Super Bowl on one good ankle. With the AFC Championship tied 20-20 in the final seconds, Mahomes took off. Five yards wasn't much. On that ankle, it was enough. Joseph Ossai shoved him after he stepped out of bounds, the flag moved Kansas City into range, and Harrison Butker drilled a 45-yard field goal with three seconds left. Twenty-three to twenty.

One game remained. Philadelphia controlled most of the first half of Super Bowl LVII. Jalen Hurts kept moving the chains, A.J. Brown went deep, and the Eagles led 24-14 at halftime. Mahomes had aggravated the ankle again before the break. Then Kansas City scored every time it touched the ball in the second half. Pacheco ran one in. Kadarius Toney was left completely uncovered for another. Toney's 65-yard punt return set up a nearly identical touchdown to Skyy Moore. Philadelphia still answered, and Hurts tied the game 35-35 with just over five minutes remaining.

So Mahomes got the ball one more time. He scrambled 26 yards on the same ankle that had threatened the entire playoff run. Kansas City reached the red zone, James Bradberry was called for holding on third down, and the Chiefs drained the clock before Butker kicked the championship-winning field goal. Thirty-eight to thirty-five.

That's how people remember the 2022 Chiefs. They remember Tyreek leaving and everyone wondering what Mahomes would look like without him. They remember Kelce becoming inevitable, Pacheco running like every carry was personal, and Mahomes limping through January. They remember Burrowhead, the scramble on the bad ankle, and another double-digit Super Bowl comeback. Most of all, they remember the season Kansas City was supposed to finally take a step backward—and Mahomes turned it into another championship.