It wasn’t easy, but Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs clinched the AFC West on Sunday afternoon.
The Chiefs, despite trailing 17-7 early at Arrowhead Stadium, rallied to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 25-17 on New Year’s Eve. The win officially gave the Chiefs the divisional title for an eighth straight season and clinched a playoff berth.
Outside of a touchdown late in the first quarter — when Mahomes hit Isiah Pacheco for an 8-yard score — the Chiefs offense largely struggled. Harrison Butker hit six straight field goals to slowly pull the Chiefs out of a 10-point hole after Jake Browning hit Joe Mixon and then ran in another score himself. Butker’s fifth field goal, a 48-yarder, pushed the Chiefs to a five-point lead with just more than six minutes left in the game. He then hit a final field goal with just three minutes left to seal the seven-point win.
Elsewhere, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 30-23 at Lumen Field. The win actually sent the Los Angeles Rams into the playoffs. In the third late game, the Denver Broncos — led by Jarrett Stidham after Russell Wilson’s benching — beat the Los Angeles Chargers 16-9.
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for highlights and updates from all the Sunday afternoon action.
A would-be Steelers turnover was overturned after replay review determined that wide reciever Diontae Johnson touched the ball while he was out of bounds after he bobbled the ball.
Inactives are in for the Sunday late afternoon games. Kenny Pickett is inactive for Pittsburgh's game against Seattle. Mason Rudolph will start, as expected.