Daniel Jones was trying to hand Patrick Mahomes the first three-game losing streak of his career Sunday, a truth that summoned the last time the Kansas City Chiefs’ living legend faced the same unwanted possibility — against Jones’ former team, the New York Giants.

Back in September, the 0-2 Chiefs were deep in their own territory and locked in a struggle with the 0-2 Giants when a wayward Mahomes lateral was scooped by linebacker Bobby Okereke. “I could see his eyes get big,” the quarterback said that night, “like he was about to score a touchdown.”

Mahomes denied Okereke that lifetime highlight by drilling him from the side and ripping the ball out of his hands.

“You’ve got to finish in this game,” he said. “You’ve got to compete. You’ve got to love the game, and whenever you make a mistake, you’ve got to leave it all on the line.”

Precious few NFL players have ever finished, competed, loved the game, and pursued redeeming excellence in the wake of a mistake with more conviction than Mahomes has over his eight years as a starting quarterback. He entered this season having never missed an AFC Championship Game appearance as a starter, going seven for seven while reaching five Super Bowls and winning three.

And that’s why the failure of Jones and the Indianapolis Colts to put away Mahomes and the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium could have huge ramifications across the league as it barrels toward Thanksgiving Day and the unofficial start of the playoff push. According to The Athletic’s NFL playoff simulator, Mahomes’ ability to overcome a 20-9 fourth-quarter deficit and deliver a 23-20 overtime victory left Kansas City (6-5) with a 64 percent chance to return to the postseason.

A loss to Indianapolis, on the other hand, would have left Kansas City with a 31 percent chance to advance, according to Next Gen Stats.

Though the Chiefs are not the two-time defending champs this time around, it’s still clear the rest of the NFL is a much safer place when the league’s Freddy Krueger has a 31 percent chance to get you rather than a 64 percent chance.

Not that the NFL tournament isn’t shaping up to be as wide open as the MLB playoffs appeared to be in early October, at least until the Los Angeles Dodgers turned into the Dodgers again.

And maybe the Philadelphia Eagles will recover from their brutal loss to the Dallas Cowboys and prove to be Philly’s answer to L.A.’s back-to-back World Series champs — a team that kicks aside whatever issues existed during the regular season and becomes a juggernaut, on muscle memory, in the nick of time.

But for now, with the New England Patriots, of all teams, holding the league’s best record at 10-2, all the usual suspects among the contenders are flawed. This was the year for Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow to dominate, lock down the AFC’s No. 1 overall seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and turn Mahomes’ first season after his 30th birthday into a forgettable one.

Allen, Jackson and Burrow are future Hall of Famers who have yet to win a championship ring — Allen and Jackson have yet to appear in a Super Bowl. And with the Chiefs not yet measuring up to their standard of greatness, this was not the time for their rivals to turn over the top of the conference to Maye and Bo Nix.

Burrow is returning from injury too late to save the Cincinnati Bengals. Allen’s Buffalo Bills have lost four of their last seven games and look like a wild-card team, at best.

Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens? They’ve won five in a row to get to 6-5 and to take command position in the AFC North away from the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have lost four of six and need to hope — pray? — that Aaron Rodgers can overcome his fractured left wrist and his 42nd birthday (on Dec. 2).

For the time being, leg injuries have clearly stripped Jackson of the explosive, MVP-level play that will be required for him to improve his postseason record (3-5).

Of course, everything can look entirely different a few weeks from now. Inspired by the unspeakable loss of Marshawn Kneeland, the Cowboys might finally become America’s Team again and go on a run that lands them in their first NFC Championship Game in three decades, and against a team, the Rams, they used to face in the postseason all the time in their pre-Jerry Jones days.

Hey, it’s still early. Then again, it’s also late enough for the 2-10 Giants to have become the first NFL team officially eliminated from playoff contention. Unbelievable.

It seems like seven months ago when Mahomes beat them in the Meadowlands and dodged the same three-game losing streak he dodged against the Colts (8-3) on Sunday, when he made the fourth-and-3 pass — a 19-yarder — to Rashee Rice to save the game on the field-goal drive at the close of regulation.

On third-and-7 in overtime from his own 24-yard line, Mahomes beat the blitz by stepping up quickly in the pocket and firing just as he was getting hit around the legs by Indy’s Nick Cross. His 31-yard completion to Xavier Worthy set up an outcome that was predictable to every witness familiar with Chiefs football and the superstar who threw for 352 yards to become the fastest man to hurdle the 35,000-yard career mark.

30-yard gain from Mahomes to Worthy puts KC in FG range in OT

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— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2025

“He kept firing,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, “which the great ones do.”

In his news conference in Kansas City, Mahomes maintained more than once that the Chiefs had to prove to themselves they could win a game like Sunday’s against a formidable opponent. “This is exactly what we needed,” he said.

And that’s a frightening thought for everyone else with Super Bowl designs. The Chiefs have to deal with the suddenly hot Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day, and if they make the playoffs for the eighth straight year with Mahomes, they’ll likely have to do it as a wild-card entrant for the first time.

But the guardians of the most confident program in pro football just walked out of Arrowhead Stadium with more confidence than they walked in with. If Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs get back to the Super Bowl for a sixth time, remember this day as the one that made it possible.