It took a game-winning drive from Patrick Mahomes to get past Bryce Young and the Panthers, but the Kansas City Chiefs left North Carolina with a victory on Sunday afternoon.
The Chiefs rallied in the final two minutes to earn a 30-27 win Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Spencer Shrader, replacing the injured Harrison Butker, kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired to give them the narrow victory. That pushed the Chiefs to 10-1 on the season and brought them back after dropping their first game of the year last week in Buffalo.
Although they didn’t get the win, Young’s performance was easily the best of the season, if not his career. He was benched earlier this season after leading the team to an 0-2 start, but he regained the starting job after veteran backup Andy Dalton injured his thumb in a car accident last month. Young went 21 of 35 for 262 yards and a touchdown in the win, keeping them in the game late against one of the best teams in the league.
It is only the second time this season that he has surpassed 200 passing yards in a single game, and it marked the second-highest performance he has achieved in his career. Young’s career-high came last December when he posted 312 yards in a loss to the Green Bay Packers.
“I thought he played his tail off, man,” Mahomes said of Young, via the Charlotte Observer. “He’s throwing really good football… It’s been cool to see him bounce back and play great football over the last few weeks because I know he’s got it. I’ve seen it for a long time and he gave us one today scared because he played his tail off.”
The Chiefs, who were one step ahead most of the day, appeared to be cruising to victory late in the fourth quarter. But a brazen pass interference call on safety Chamarri Conner, who ran into Adam Thielen in the end zone, put the Panthers on the goal line.
From there, Chuba Hubbard ran in an easy 1-yard touchdown to bring the Panthers back within two points.
The Panthers got two looks at the two-point conversion after a second pass interference call on the first attempt. Hubbard knocked that one in as well, tying the game and erasing an 11-point deficit.
But as he has done before, Mahomes quickly put the Chiefs in scoring position. After a few quick passes, he broke off a huge 33-yard run to suddenly put Kansas City within field goal range. That set up Shrader’s final field goal and won the game for the Chiefs.
The Panthers’ offense struggled to do much of anything in the first half, and they entered the locker room at halftime with just nine points behind three Eddy Pineiro field goals. The Chiefs jumped out to an 11-point lead at halftime after Mahomes hit Noah Gray for a pair of touchdowns — first a 35-yard throw on their opening drive of the game and then an 11-yard reception late in the second quarter.
But Young led the Panthers on two crucial second-half touchdown drives, including one right in the third quarter. That drive, a 15-play, 70-yard effort, ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass to David Moore.
Mahomes went 27 of 37 for 269 yards with three touchdowns in the win for the Chiefs. He also had 60 yards on five carries on the ground, just shy of Kareem Hunt’s 68 rushing yards. Gray finished with 66 yards and two scores on just four catches.
The Chiefs now have eight wins by one this season, matching the NFL record through a team’s first 11 games.
“You want to have some bursts,” Mahomes said, via ESPN. “You want to be a little calmer in the fourth quarter. I’ve always said that it can be a good thing when you get to the playoffs and later in the season, just knowing that you’ve been through those moments before and you know how to do it to attack.
“But I would love to win a match [before] the very last play.”
While Young didn’t ultimately get the win for the Panthers, Sunday’s performance was still incredibly impressive for the former Alabama standout and Heisman Trophy winner. After losing his job just a few weeks ago, the Panthers now have reason to stick with Young to once again see if the 2023 No. 1 overall pick is part of their future.
However, whether he can keep that up in next week’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders and for the rest of the season remains to be seen.
