Live updates: Chiefs defeat Texans 23-14 to advance to seventh straight AFC title game

Good fight by the Texans, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Chiefs in the Divisional Round.

Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City will advance to the AFC Championship Game for the seventh straight season. They will await the winner of the Ravens and Bills, who face off Sunday.

Since 2018, Kansas City is 6-0 in divisional-round playoff games by protecting the ball, with just four turnovers combined in those six victories. Tonight against Houston, the Chiefs are on their way to a seventh consecutive divisional win by once again limiting their own mistakes. The Chiefs have yet to turn the ball over even though Houston's defense this season had a track record of making several of the league's most prolific quarterbacks look mortal. If the Chiefs stay turnover-free, it will be their eighth consecutive game without a turnover.

The Chiefs took advantage of a short field and after a seven-play, 36-yard drive Harrison Butker came on to kick a 27-yard field goal.

Kansas City now leads 23-12 with only 4:38 to go. Not sure if the Texans have enough time to mount a comeback.

Terrible time for the Texans to go three-and-out for the first time all day.

Houston picked up only four yards on a drive that started inside the 10. The Chiefs now have the ball back on the Texans’ 45.

Kansas City leads 20-12 with 7:35 to go.

That could be a dagger.

The Texans tried to convert a 4th-and-10 from the Kansas City 40, but C.J. Stroud was sacked for a whopping 16-yard loss on the play. Houston had a nice drive going until three straight blitzes by the Chiefs stymied Stroud, who threw incomplete twice before the sack.

Kansas City now has the ball on the Texans 44 with a 20-12 lead. There’s 9:59 left in the fourth quarter.

Remember how much hand-wringing there was early in the season concerning Travis Kelce's lack of production? Now that the playoffs are here, the future Hall of Fame tight end and quarterback Patrick Mahomes have established their unguardable connection yet again.

Kelce, who averaged a career-low 51.4 receiving yards per game this season, has caught five passes for a season-high 113 yards and a touchdown. That receiving total includes a 49-yard reception, his longest of the season.

Mahomes magic!

What a play by Patrick Mahomes, who threw a pass while being tackled on 3rd-and-goal, finding an open Travis Kelce in the end zone for a touchdown. The play was the capper on 13-play, 81-yard drive that took over seven minutes off the clock.

We’ve only had two drives in the second half! The Chiefs now lead 20-12.

The Texans took over 10 minutes off the clock with their lone drive in the third quarter, but now the Chiefs are putting together their own long possession.

Kansas City will have a 4th-and-very-short with the fourth quarter begins. The Chiefs are on the Houston 37 after seven plays and 44 yards. The drive was aided by yet another controversial penalty for a hit on Patrick Mahomes.

Both defenses have been stingy so far. Let’s see which offense can make more plays down the stretch.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift and WNBA rookie of the year Caitlin Clark are sitting next to one another at Arrowhead Stadium.

It turns out that Kansas City's long opening kickoff return was a bad omen for the Texans special teams unit. Since that return — which also saw Kris Boyd draw an unsportsmanlike penalty and push Houston special teams coordinator Frank Ross on the sideline — the Texans have left four points on the board, after Ka'imi Fairbairn missed a 55-yard field goal, then a point-after attempt that would have tied the game in the third quarter. Fairbairn was perfect on PATs this season through 14 games, but in his last four games, including today, has missed three PATs.

That is EXACTLY the kind of drive you want to have against the Chiefs, especially in the playoffs.

The Texans went 82 yards in 15 plays — taking over 10 minutes off the clock — capped off by a 13-yard touchdown run by Joe Mixon. The possession included multiple third-down conversions, with Houston having to overcome a few penalties as well.

The only issue? Ka'imi Fairbairn missed the extra point. So the Chiefs still lead 13-12.

Because the majority of Kansas City's starters hadn't played in nearly three weeks, given how early the Chiefs had wrapped up the AFC's top playoff seed, the assumption entering today was that Houston's opportunity to grab hold of the game would be in the first half as the Chiefs got back into rhythm.

Instead at times the Texans looked out of sync, no bigger than in the final minute before halftime when a penalty and sack on consecutive plays cost them 18 yards. With wideouts Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs injured and unavailable, can Houston find ways to get top receiver Nico Collins open and create lanes for running back Joe Mixon? At the half, Mixon has 46 yards on 11 carries and Collins has been targeted three times, with two catches for 27 yards.

After a nine-play, 41-yard drive, Texans kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn hit a 48-yard field goal to cut into Chiefs’ lead with 20 seconds left in the second quarter.

That was a nice drive by Houston, which also killed enough clock to prevent Patrick Mahomes from trying to answer with a score.

It’s now a 13-6 game at half, and the Texans will receive to open the third.

We have our first touchdown of the day.

Five plays after the Texans missed a field goal, the Chiefs got in the end zone courtesy of a one-yard run by Kareem Hunt. Kansas City was set up inside the 10 after a 49-yard pass to Travis Kelce.

Hunt then finally punched it in on 3rd-and-goal.

The Chiefs now lead 13-3.

Houston's kicker, who just missed a 55-yard field goal in the second quarter, had made 13 of his 16 attempts between 50-59 yards this season. Those 13 makes tied for the league lead during the regular season.

Bad to worse for the Texans.

First C.J. Stroud was sacked on third down. (He also fumbled, but the ball was recovered by offensive lineman Shaq Mason.)

The sack-and-fumble then pushed Houston back to a 55-yard field goal attempt, and Ka'imi Fairbairn was wiiiiiiiiide right on his kick. Emphasis on wiiiiiiiiide.

The Chiefs will now have the ball on their own 45 with a 6-3 lead to start their next drive.

Similar to the Texans last drive, the Chiefs made it over midfield before a third-down sack ended their drive.

Will Anderson Jr., who was flagged earlier on a controversial roughing-the-passer call, this time got home on Patrick Mahomes with no issues. The eight-yard sack forced Kansas City to punt it away.

Houston will now take over on its own 20 trailing 6-3.

It’s been a defensive battle in frigid Kansas City so far.

The offenses have been stopped in the red zone on three separate occasions. And both pass rushes have seemed to make the quarterbacks a little uncomfortable.

The Chiefs will have a 3rd-and-7 from their own 23 when the second quarter begins.

The Texans made it over midfield and were getting close to field-goal range, but on 3rd-and-8 C.J. Stroud was sacked by Chris Jones to end the drive.

Houston punted — the first punt for either side today — and now the Chiefs will take over on their own 20 with a 6-3 lead.

The Chiefs were stopped on third down from their own 33 until a controversial roughing-the-passer call kept the drive alive. Will Anderson just barely hit Patrick Mahomes in the upper body and yet he was flagged for the play.

Kansas City followed up the penalty with a couple big passes — a 23-yarder to Travis Kelce and a 21-yarder to Xavier Worthy — but once again the Texans held up in the red zone. The Chiefs had a 1st-and-goal from the 8 only to go backward 10 yards.

Harrison Butker then hit a 36-yard field goal to give Kansas City a 6-3 lead. Houston has a right to be miffed, however.

Houston ended its first drive with a field goal, but also a limping quarterback. C.J. Stroud did not appear comfortable leaving the field and sitting on the sideline.

The Texans had a nice drive that got all the way to the Chiefs’ 14-yard line, but it stalled there. C.J. Stroud threw incomplete on 2nd-and-9 and then scrambled for only two yards on third down.

Ultimately, after 10 plays and 68 yards, Ka'imi Fairbairn came on for a 30-yard field goal to tie the game. It’s now knotted up at 3.

Houston's Kris Boyd forced a fumble on the Chiefs' opening kickoff, but then drew an unsportsmanlike penalty that gifted Kansas City 13 extra yards when he threw his helmet off on the field. When he got back to the sideline, cameras caught Boyd as he shoved special teams coach Frank Ross.

That first drive is a win for the Texans.

A 63-yard return by Nikko Remigio — plus a personal foul penalty — set the Chiefs up only 13 yards away from the end zone on their opening drive. But the Houston defense held strong, moving Kansas City back one yard over three plays.

The Chiefs kicked a field goal to take a 3-0 lead. Houston will live with that after the opening kick.

Exciting to start to the Divisional Round, as the Chiefs got a big return on the opening kickoff by Semaje Perine. He actually fumbled at the end of the return but he managed to recover the ball as well.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Texans gives Kansas City the ball on the Houston 13 to start.

Is it even a Chiefs home game if Taylor Swift isn't there?

She arrived to Arrowhead ahead of the Divisional Round matchup against the Houston Texans in a black mini dress paired with tights and boots, and accessorized with a Chanel belt adorned with pearls.

It's chilly in Kansas City, and Swift dressed for the weather, finishing off her fit with a a plaid coat and black leather gloves.

Surely Swift will be able to enchant the Chiefs, hopefully propelling them another round closer to a three-peat Super Bowl win.

Chris Simms and Mike Florio assess if the Texans can replicate their performance against the Chargers in the divisional matchup with the Chiefs and the “test” Kansas City faces in what could be another close game.

When Houston faces Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, can its defense make life miserable for yet? another top quarterback? Already this season the Texans‘ scheme has led Buffalo’s Josh Allen to post a career-worst completion percentage; Detroit’s Jared Goff to throw five interceptions; and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa to throw three interceptions and lose a fumble.

The latest data point came in Houston’s wild-card playoff victory last week against the Chargers, when Justin Herbert was intercepted four times — the same Herbert who had thrown three interceptions in his previous 17 games.

Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce has the most receptions (165) and second-most receiving yards (1,903) and touchdown receptions (19) among all players in postseason history. He trails only Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice (2,245 receiving yards, 22 touchdown receptions) for most all-time.

Kelce has 14 consecutive playoff games with at least five receptions and 13 consecutive postseason games with at least 70 receiving yards, both the longest such streaks in NFL playoff history.

Look, the Texans didn’t exactly wow anyone in the wild-card round when they won a wacky game against the Los Angeles Chargers. But Houston’s defense is absolutely ferocious, with a defensive line and a secondary that wreaks havoc on opposing offenses. Several quarterbacks have looked awful against the Texans this year. And C.J. Stroud, despite his so-so sophomore year, is still proving to be a game changer at the position. Add all this to the Chiefs’ very long layoff and their own offensive malaise this season, and I’m at least expecting a tight game because of Houston’s defense.

The Chiefs QB, with a win against Houston today, can tie Hall of Famer Joe Montana with 16 postseason victories. Only Tom Brady (35 postseason wins) has more.

Mahomes also has 5,135 postseason passing yards. This weekend he could surpass Drew Brees (5,366) for seventh-most ever for a playoff career.

You would think the two-time defending Super Bowl champions’ beginning their quest for a three-peat as 15-2 home favorites would be the storyline of the divisional round. Alas, the Chiefs find themselves well behind the Bills and Ravens’ “Game of the Century” and the Lions’ hunt for the first Super Bowl title in franchise history. So I’ll ask: Can the Chiefs win convincingly after an anything but convincing 2024? 

Because let’s be real: The Chiefs are going to win. The only question is if they will do so in a fashion that actually makes them favorites for the AFC championship game. You can lean on your “championship pedigree” when you are grinding out regular season victories over the Chargers and the Steelers. The same is true for the Texans in the divisional round. But Baltimore or Buffalo with the Lamar Hunt Trophy on the line? We are going to need to see some proof it’s possible this Saturday.