By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The only thing the Chiefs had to worry about in the final minutes Sunday was Patrick Mahomes’ ankle.
Mahomes threw two touchdown passes before limping off with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter, Xavier Worthy ran for a score and Kansas City finally had a relatively easy win, 21-7 over the mistake-prone Cleveland Browns.
Mahomes connected for TDs in the first half with Juju Smith-Schuster and Noah Gray as the Chiefs (13-1) built a 21-0 lead and then slogged their way through an ugly second half.
The defending Super Bowl champions have 10 wins by seven points or less, with six coming on the game’s final play.
Mahomes didn’t finish the game, leaving when he got his ankle rolled up on while being tackled by Dalvin Tomlinson on a fourth-down incompletion. Carson Wentz replaced him for the final 5:23. Mahomes finished 19 of 38 for 159 yards.
After the game, Mahomes said X-rays were negative. He said he would have lobbied harder to stay in if the Browns had gotten within one score.
“We’ll get into the rehab part, the treatment part and try to get back on a short week,” said Mahomes, noting the Chiefs will play again Saturday — the second of three games in 11 days. “With all the adrenaline from the game, it’s hard to tell now (if he can play). Usually, it’s the day after when you get a good sense of it.”
Before Wentz went in, Mahomes had his left ankle re-taped while on the bench. He walked gingerly off the field but didn’t favor it while in the locker room or going to his postgame news conference. He was driven to the Chiefs’ buses on a cart.
Coach Andy Reid was relieved Mahomes was not more seriously hurt.
“It’s not broken, that’s all I can tell you,” Reid said. “We’ll have to see how it goes down the road.”
The Browns (3-11) tried to put up a fight, but had six turnovers. Other than a 62-yard TD run from Jerome Ford, Cleveland had few offensive highlights and too many self-inflicted miscues.
Jameis Winston threw more three interceptions — two in the end zone to give him eight in his last three games — and the Browns had two fumbles. The five turnovers made things much easier on Mahomes and the Chiefs, not that they needed a lot of help.
Cleveland running back Nick Chubb suffered a broken foot. It’s another setback for the star, who had a devastating knee injury last season.
Winston was pulled after his third pick and replaced by second-year QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who also was intercepted. Coach Kevin Stefanski would not commit to a starter for next week.
“You can not turn the ball over six times and expect to win,” Stefanski said. “At any level.”
Cleveland’s Jerry Jeudy had 11 catches for 108 yards and went over 1,000 for the season.
The Chiefs’ second TD — Mahomes’ 6-yard pass to Gray with 4:46 left in the first half — came on the same play Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett left the field in extreme pain with an apparent eye injury.
Garrett was rushing Mahomes and being blocked by Chiefs left tackle Joe Thuney when he suddenly stopped. The league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year immediately grabbed his face mask and pulled off his helmet, flinging it away before dropping to the turf.
He was face down for several minutes before being helped off. As Garrett walked toward the locker room holding a towel to his face, Thuney came over and patted him on the back. Garrett was only gone for a short period before he ran back on to the field and finished the game.
“Thank God, he’s OK,” Stefanski said.
The Chiefs took a 21-0 lead early in the third, capitalizing on a pick by Winston that went off Chubb’s hands. Four plays later, Worthy took a deep pitch from Mahomes, turned the corner and scored.
Kansas City’s first score was set up by Cleveland’s first turnover.
After the Browns forced a three-and-out on Kansas City’s first possession, Cleveland’s James Proche II fumbled during a punt return and the Chiefs recovered at the 21.
Mahomes then connected with Schuster for a 7-yard TD with 12:12 left in the first quarter.
