By Matt McMullen – Chiefs.com Reporter
The Kansas City Chiefs are 3-0 to begin the season for the first time since 2020 following a thrilling victory over the Atlanta Falcons, 22-17, on Sunday Night Football.
Leading by five points while defending the Kansas City 13-yard line and with just 56 seconds remaining in the game, Chiefs’ linebacker Nick Bolton tackled Falcons’ running back Bijan Robinson short of the line to gain on fourth down, securing the win for Kansas City.
The play, which marked a second consecutive fourth-quarter, fourth-down stop for Kansas City in the red zone, concluded another back-and-forth game that once again came down to the wire.
“What a phenomenal play that was,” said Head Coach Andy Reid. “[Bolton] got the wind knocked out of him [a little earlier], but then he came back in the game and did a great job.”
Bolton led a Kansas City defense that bounced back from allowing a Falcons’ touchdown drive on Atlanta’s opening series to surrender only 10 points the rest of the way. Notably, Kansas City held Falcons’ running Bijan Robinson – one of the top young tailbacks in the NFL – to just 31 yards on 16 attempts throughout the game.
The Chiefs quickly matched the Falcons’ opening touchdown, too, when quarterback Patrick Mahomes found wide receiver Rashee Rice for a 13-yard score midway through the second quarter.
It was part of a big night for Rice, who caught a career-most 12 passes for 110 yards and a score. Additionally, two of those catches – including his touchdown – moved the chains on third down.
“He’s a guy who’s going to make plays happen. When [defenses] are putting all of that attention on [tight end Travis Kelce], he’s making stuff happen underneath,” Mahomes said. “He’s a legitimate No. 1 receiver…I’m super proud of what he’s done already, but I think he [still] has another level he can unlock.”
Rice’s touchdown ignited what turned out to be a 22-7 run for Kansas City, which included a stretch of 15 unanswered points on either side of halftime. Kicker Harrison Butker connected on three field goals during that stretch before Mahomes found wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster for a 13-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.
Atlanta managed to chip away at the deficit early in the fourth quarter with a 54-yard field goal, but despite two drives that marched inside the Chiefs’ 20-yard line, the five-point margin was as close as Atlanta would get throughout the remainder of the game.
It was far from perfect, but as Coach Reid acknowledged following the game, the Chiefs’ defense – and Bolton, in particular – made the game-clinching play when it was needed most.
“We needed to do a better job offensively on that last drive and not put the defense in that position,” Reid said. “We stepped up on the defensive side [though], and we did a nice job of holding them out of there.”
The win marked the 77th career regular season victory for Mahomes, moving him past Tom Brady and Roger Staubach for the most career wins through 100 starts at quarterback in NFL history. On the other side of the ball, Kansas City extended its league-best streak of holding opponents under 28 points to a whopping 24 games. It’s the longest streak of its kind since 2009, and the third-longest stretch for any team since 2000.
In some additional good news, Coach Reid had no injuries to report following the game.
The Chiefs will now turn the page to a divisional matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium next Sunday.
