The clock hit 13 seconds late in the first half Sunday, and a sold-out crowd inside Arrowhead Stadium began to chant the number in unison. A venue that spent more than two decades as the provider of its team's most cruel heartbreak had progressed to moments so fond that they were stamped onto T-shirts across Kansas City.
You see, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes told us just one week ago that this organization had buried days like these deep into its past.
But those 13 seconds, as they will be remembered now, were more of a set-up than some sort of miracle.
They fooled us into thinking what came Sunday would not come — could not come — as long as No. 15 was here.
We fell for it. Which makes the fall that much harder.
The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Chiefs 27-24 in overtime of the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, erasing an 18-point deficit but rekindling memories of Arrowhead past.
A franchise history that could be separated into two distinct eras — Pre-Mahomes and Post-Mahomes — now bleeds together more easily than thought.
The Chiefs once spaced 25 seasons between home playoff wins, and not for lack of opportunity. Their defeats came with nicknames, shock and torture.
This will fit there.
But it's worse.
In 2017, the Chiefs drafted a quarterback from Tyler, Texas, and he squashed whatever evil had cursed this place. But for all of the greatness he provided — the Super Bowl title, the historic comeback wins along the way, the four straight AFC Championship Game appearances — this is part of the package, too.
The past.
And the present.
But worse still.
It's easy to overreact to the moment — easy to call last week's comeback against the Bills the best in team history, for example — but the comparisons here are easy. Yes, there have been larger blown leads. There have actually been games in which the Chiefs were larger favorites than the 7-point closing line against the Bengals.
None of those had Mahomes.
This one did.
The Lin Elliott Game didn't have Mahomes. The Marcus Mariota Pass to Himself Game didn't either. Not the No Punt Game. Nor the Field Goal Game.
The Chiefs had a 97.3% chance to win at one point Sunday, per Next Gen Stats, and the best football player in the world stood on their sideline. They led 21-10, ball at the 1-yard line, ready to play make-it, take-it and seal their flight to the West Coast, where they would've been a betting favorite to win their second Super Bowl in three seasons.
With four teams left in the dance, the most intriguing bet on the sheet was not who would win the Super Bowl but rather if you'd prefer to take the Chiefs or the rest of the field.
As he stepped to the lectern for a post-game news conference Sunday, Mahomes listed off the finality of the Chiefs' past four seasons. He wasn't asked by the way. The question before him pondered what might be on his mind at that very moment.
He answered:
2018.
2019.
2020.
And 2021.
"A few plays here and there," Mahomes said, "and you could have four chances at the Super Bowl."
That's what makes this difficult.
They have one.
With the guarantee of nothing.
A city that waited 50 years for a parade is entitled to feel as though it deserves to be spoiled with another. A city that sat through six consecutive home playoff losses is entitled to believe it didn't deserve to sit through that one.
"This is another great challenge for this team and for this organization," safety Tyrann Mathieu said.
The Chiefs were the best team still permitted to play football this weekend — Mathieu said that, too. The team that took the field in the first half remains the best team in football. Where did it go?
Mahomes threw for 220 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, and the Chiefs scored on their initial three drives before only the game clock could halt their next one.
That should've been sufficient. Should've been over. An observer of the old Chiefs — the Pre-Mahomes — would know better. An observer of Post-Mahomes Chiefs could have booked a flight for Los Angeles.
The Bengals swear they changed hardly anything defensively. The results changed significantly. Mahomes managed only 55 yards after halftime, when the Chiefs scored just three points. He fell into some habits to which he succumbed over the middle part of the season — he passed up short passes in favor of looking for something bigger. The scrambles weren't there. The drops returned.
"I mean, I gotta be better," Mahomes said. "When you're up 21-3 at one point in the game, you can't lose it. I put that on myself."
What Mahomes and the Chiefs did to the Bills in just 13 seconds a week ago came back at them in full force over 35 minutes.
A slow bleed. More painful. More agonizing. Far more confounding.
Even for all of the second-half struggles, they still forced overtime. Still won a coin flip. Still had the ball in Mahomes' hands with a chance to win the game with a touchdown.
Forget 13 seconds. The Chiefs had all the time in the world.
Incomplete pass.
Incomplete pass.
Interception.
Time of possession: 14 seconds.
