The Chiefs were 9-18 in the playoffs before Patrick Mahomes showed up. So I literally couldn’t have made this list prior to him because they didn’t have 10 wins. But even though we are missing from the playoffs this year, we have lots to celebrate the past 7 years in the post season. Pat is arguably the great Conference playoff Quarterback of all time. He is 14-2 in the AFC playoffs and never lost in regulation. And so today as we head to the divisional round, we celebrate what I think are the best 10 playoff games from the dynasty. Let’s dive in.

10. Chance for the 3 peat

The 2024 Chiefs were the opposite of the 2025 Chiefs by winning every single close game. They did it again in the AFC championship game against the Bills. While the offense struggled most of the year, they came alive and scored over 30 points for the first time all year. Andy called an exceptional game. Pat played amazing like always. And Spags dialed up the perfect blitz at the perfect time to force an errant throw from Josh Allen that Dalton Kincaid couldn’t quite catch. They iced the game on a 3rd down brilliant call where Pat hit Perine who made the catch and got the first down. And the Chiefs became the first team ever to win two in a row and make it to a 3rd Super Bowl. What happened after that? Well, we don’t need to talk about that.

9. The Angry Snowball game

In the 2023 season, the Chiefs struggled offensively mostly due to a lot of drops. After beating Miami in one of the coldest games in history, the Chiefs had to go on the road for the first time in Mahomes career in the playoffs. The game was a great game that went back and forth. Mahomes was excellent again, throwing dimes left and right including a perfect pass down the sideline to MVS and a couple of touchdowns to Travis Kelce. This game wouldn’t have been as close as it was if Hardman hadn’t fumbled near the goal line. Josh had a chance as he drove them down the field. But he missed a couple of open receivers which I am sure was someone else’s fault. And then Tyler Bass kicked it wide right. The Bills fans threw snow balls at the Chiefs players at the end of the game which the dodged with joy.

8. AFC Champs on the road

The next week we headed to Baltimore who was the Super Bowl favorites most of the year. We again came in with a great game plan. We moved the ball right down the field on consecutive drives to take the lead 14-7. On our 3rd drive we were moving again until Pacheco got stopped on 4th down. Butker hit a 52 yarder with 4 seconds in the half. Despite some good drives the Ravens had to settle for only a field goal. Sneed forced a fumble on Zay Flowers that McDuffie recovered in the end zone. Then later in the game Lamar threw an interception in the end zone. The Chiefs needed one first down to seal the game. Everyone including the announcers assumed we would run the ball to keep the clock moving. I coached my daughter’s basketball team that year and we were on our way to a game and I was listening on the radio. As we pulled into the parking lot the announcers let me know that the Chiefs did not run. But instead they threw a deep ball to MVS that he actually caught and the Chiefs were going back to the Super Bowl again!

7. Finally Hoist the Hunt Trophy

You know how much it sucks to have your deceased owner’s name on a trophy that you have never won in your lifetime as a fan? That was my life until January 19, 2020. The Chiefs were hosting the Titans who had beat the Patriots and the 1 seeded Ravens the two weeks prior. The Titans got off to an early 10-0 lead. But that was nothing for this Chiefs team. Tyreek caught a td and then he caught another one and the score was 17-14. The Chiefs were driving late in the first half when Patrick left the pocket and started to run towards the sideline, but after he made a defensive lineman miss, he cut back in to the field and ran all the way to the goal line where he was bumped around by a couple of defenders and fell into the end zone. We were up 21-17 and it was at this point I knew we were going to the super bowl. At the beginning of the 4th quarter, Damien Williams ran it from 3 yards out and then half way through the last quarter, Pat hit Sammy Watkins on a deep pass for a td to seal our victory. And for the first time we hoisted the Lamar Hunt Trophy.

6. Down 24-0…No problem

Not everyone understands the heartbreak that Chiefs fans have suffered in the playoffs. From missed kicks, to losing to team that didn’t score a touchdown, to terrible offensive PI calls, to a quarterback throwing a td to themselves off a deflected pass, to an interception being taken away because a guy lined up an inch offsides, you name it, it had gone wrong in the playoffs. Before Pat showed up we were 9-18 in the playoffs. I had seen exactly 1 playoff win between 1994 and 2018. So when we went down 24-0 against the Texans it seemed like this was going to be just another bad moment in Chiefs history. People were dropping passes. Tyreek dropped a punt that the Texans recovered. Everything was going wrong. But I believed because of Pat. I just felt like we needed one thing to go our way. With just under 11 minutes left to go in the half, Hardman had a big kick return. A few plays later, Pat threw a td to Damien Williams. On the Texans next drive they inexplicably decided to try a fake punt. Dirty Dan stopped it. The Chiefs went down and Travis Kelce caught a td. The Chiefs kicked off and Dirty Dan forced a fumble that the Chiefs recovered followed by another Kelce TD catch. The Chiefs got another stop and another Kelce TD. And in an 11 minute stretch it went from 24-0 to 28-24. The Chiefs would rattle off two more TDs before the Texans scored again. The Chiefs finished things off with another td and a fg to win 51-31. From 24-0 to 51-31 was quite the story.

5. Super Bowl Champs…again

2022 was a great season. Many expected a down year because we traded Tyreek. But I told my brother we were going to win it. We would start and finish the year in Arizona. Without Tyreek, Pat had one of the greatest seasons of any QB ever. He was dominant throughout and was excellent in the playoffs as always. But they were facing a tough Eagles team and their stupid tush push. The Eagles scored first and the Chiefs immediately answered. But the offense couldn’t do much after that. Fortunately, Jalen Hurts made a mistake and fumbled and Nick Bolton returned it for a touchdown. But still, the Chiefs were down 24-14 at the half. The Chiefs came out of the half and drove right down the field. Pacheco ran it in for a TD. The Eagles kicked a field goal on their next possession. The Chiefs drove the field again and ran a play called corn dog and Kadarius Toney caught a TD. Then the Chiefs got a stop. Toney caught the punt made a few moves and then crossed the field and ran down the right sideline. He was tackled short of the goal line. The Chiefs basically ran the same play on the opposite side even though people lined up on the wrong side of things, Skyy Moore just ran the route on the wrong side and Pat threw the TD. The Eagles would answer with a TD of their own and a 2 PT conversion to tie the game. But Pat and his bad ankle would not be denied. He ran for a big gain getting them in FG position. Then their was a holding call were Bradbury grabbed JuJu’s jersey. That allowed the Chiefs to basically run out the clock especially when McKinnon slid down in bounds at 1 yard line. The Chiefs made the FG and iced the game. And the Chiefs were Super Bowl champs for a second time in my life time.

4. Burrowhead

By the time the AFC championship game rolled around in the 2022 season, Mahomes had pretty much done everything. He had won a Super Bowl, MVP, Super Bowl MVP and was about to win another MVP. The one thing he hadn’t done was beat Joe Burrow. For whatever reason in 3 match ups, he and the Chiefs were 0-3. They lost all 3 games by a field goal. So after the Bengals beat the Bills at Buffalo, Mike Hilton said that they would see you at Burrowhead. The Bengals talked a lot of smack. They smoked cigars after their victory over the Bills in the divisional round. Even their mayor got involved and said that they needed a paternity test because there was proof that Burrow was Mahomes father. Just wild stuff. To make matters worse, Mahomes got injured the week before and had a high ankle sprain that keeps the average man out of commission for a few weeks. But Pat is no average man. You can imagine that Chiefs fans such as myself really wanted to win this one. Things did not go perfect though. Pat led the team down the field the first two drives but Toney dropped a td and they had to settle for 3 field goals. The Bengals got a field goal next but then the Chiefs finally found the end zone on a 4th down TD throw to Kelce. Toney got hurt. Hardman got hurt. JuJu got hurt. We were rolling out there with MVS, Skyy Moore and Marcus Kemp of all people for most of the second half. The Bengals got a fg at the end of the half and scored a td on their first possession of the second half and all of the sudden it was 13-13. Pat took over and drove the Chiefs down the field. He threw a td to MVS on an incredible throw. The D got a stop and the Chiefs were driving down the field again but Pat had a weird fumble that the Bengals recovered. The Bengals scored a td to tie it 20 to 20 early in the 4th. Both teams struggled to move the ball for a bit but the Bengals had it and they got a massive 3rd down conversion. I was so mad that I got up and hit our table. I was sure that Burrow was going to drive down the field and beat us again. But then on the next 3rd down, Chris Jones got a sack. Skyy Moore of all people had a big punt return. Mahomes scrambled for a big first down and got hit late and Butker made the game winner. I was as happy as I had been since the first Super Bowl victory and I like a lot of Chiefs fans wanted to win this game more than we wanted to win another Super Bowl. During the post game interview with Mahomes, Trav came over and interrupted and spoke for all of us when he said “Burrowhead my ass! This is Mahomes house!” We haven’t lost to Burrow or the Bengals since. In fact they haven’t made the playoffs since then.

3. 13 Seconds

This was maybe the greatest playoff game I have ever watched. It was back and forth from the beginning. The Bills got on the board first with a short rushing TD. Pat drove them down and ran for an 8 yard td himself. In the second quarter Pat and Josh both had a TD pass and it was 14-14 at the half. Butker made a FG to get the scoring started in the 3rd. Hardman had a long TD run but Butker missed the extra point. Josh threw a second TD to Gabe Davis and the Butker kicked another FG and it was 26-21 with less than 2 minutes to go. Then the real fun began. Gabe Davis caught his 3rd td on a 4th and 13 with 1:54 left. They got a 2 pt conversion to go up 3. Tyreek caught a deep slant route made some people miss and gave the peace sign and he ran into the end zone. If my memory serves me correctly he got some Pom poms from a cheer leader or someone in the crowd or something and started dancing around and Pat had to drag him back to the sideline. There was 1:02 left in the game. Josh Allen drove down the field and threw a TD to you guessed it, Gabe Davis for his 4th TD in the game. 13 seconds left. Down 3 points. This game should be over. The Bills kick it to the end zone despite Tony Romo telling them not to. Pat hits Tyreek for a sizable gain and Hill falls down and they call timeout. Then Trav faked like he was going out and then cutting in and making the catch for a big gain. Butker makes a long kick of 49 yards and we head to over time. The Chiefs win the coin toss. They drive down the field and Pat throws the game winner to Kelce. It’s arguably the greatest QB dual in playoff history. Pat was 33 of 44 with 378 yards passing and 3 TDs and ran for another 69 yards and a TD.

2. Back to Back

The 2023 season was an up and down roller coaster. After the offense was dominant in 2022, it struggled in 2023. A lot of it had to do with a league leading amount of drops. On the flip side the defense was very, very good. The best of the dynasty era. After the season ended, the team really found their footing and won 3 playoff games to land in a rematch with the 49ers. The Chiefs never start strong in Super Bowls and this was no different. It was 10-3 at the half. Then the Chiefs got the ball and Pat threw an interception on the first drive of the half. But eventually the move the ball a little and Butker kicked the longest FG in Super Bowl history. Then the Defense stepped up and got a stop. Unfortunately the offense didn’t do anything. They punted and special teams came through as the punt barely touched the returner and the Chiefs recovered. Pat quickly hit MVS for the TD and the Chiefs took their first lead. The 49ers answered with a td of their own. Butker hit a FG to tie it. Then the 49ers moved down the field with a chance to run out the clock. On a 3rd down, Spags sent McDuffie on a blitz, he deflected the ball and forced a FG. The Chiefs got the ball back and with a minute and 53 seconds Pat lead them down the field including a big pass play to Kelce. Butker kicked another FG and to overtime we go. The 49ers won the toss and decided to take the ball first for some reason. They drove down the field, and on a 3rd down, Chris Jones got pressure and forced a bad throw. 49ers kick a field goal. Pat leads them down the field with a key option run on a 4th down and another big scramble. As time is expiring Pat hits Mecole and we are back to back champs, and the dynasty is solidified. I run around in celebration. And it was extra special because my sister who doesn’t care about football was there along with my in laws and once we started playing well I forced everyone to stay in their same seats. I was sitting by my mother in law when Pat hit Hardman and I’ll never forget that moment. I bet you remember where you were too.

1. The First One

40 years. I waited my whole life for this game. It was actually 50 years from when the Chiefs last went to the Super Bowl. It was so exciting to be a part of the game. Right before the game started, My brother and I and another friend were all texting. And someone asked for my prediction to which I replied 31-20 Chiefs. The game got off to an okay start and the Chiefs found themselves up 10-3 early in the second quarter. The 49ers would tie it up for a 10-10 halftime score. The 3rd quarter was rough. Pat threw a pick, the 49ers scored 10 points and things looked bleak. Pat threw another pick in the 4th quarter and things looked even worse. But hey, this team had been down 24-0 in the divisional round. They were down 10-0 in the AFC championship game. So they were used to being down double digit points. With just a little over 7 minutes to go, the Chiefs faced a long 3rd down. While they reviewed a play, Pat asked EB if they had time to run wasp. EB relayed it to Andy and Andy said to run it. During this same time, my daughter who was 7 years old at the time hopped up into my wife’s lap. My son sat next to me. The whole family on the couch with the game on the line. Pat got the snap and backed way up. Tyreek looked like he was running a post and then sprinted on the corner route. Pat launched it but because Tyreek is so fast he had to wait on it but he caught it and it was a huge play and a first down. Pat threw a pass to Kelce, there was PI. Ball to the 1. Pat fakes the run and throws a TD to Kelce. Defense gets the 3 and out. The whole time my wife refuses to let my daughter go. Everyone sits in the same spots like somehow we impacted the game. Pat hits Sammy down the sideline for a big play. Pat hits Williams for the TD for the lead with just under 3 minutes to go. In a matter of roughly 4 minutes of game clock, the game went from 20-10 to 24-20. 49ers move the ball a little but Jimmy G over throws Emmanuel Sanders. On 4th down, Frank Clark gets the sack. Williams has a big run for a td to put the nail in the coffin. Fuller gets an interception, we run out the clock and we win! I run around my house yelling in joy like a little kid. The whole family goes nuts even my Broncos loving wife. And I bet you remember where you were, who you were with and how you reacted too as fans in KC and everywhere rejoiced. And the Chiefs became the first team to over come double digit leads in every playoff game. Pat was MVP of the game and of the whole dang city for life. And Andy finally got his ring. I waited my whole life but it was worth the wait. And the final score was 31-20…just like I called before the game.