The Chiefs scored the first two times they had the ball in the first half to take a 14-10 lead over the Seahawks and they were getting the ball back just after the two-minute warning for their chance to make it three scores in three tries.
They almost wound up giving away their lead. Tight end Travis Kelce fumbled the ball away and the Seahawks threatened to visit the end zone for the second time in the half, but the Chiefs defense was able to hold and force a field goal that leaves them clinging to a 14-13 lead after the first two quarters.
Kelce’s late fumble was pretty much the only thing that went wrong for the Chiefs offense in the first half. Their first drive was a 15-play opus that ate up almost the entire first quarter of the game on the way to a Jamaal Charles touchdown. The second drive was a quicker-moving affair, as a long run by Charles and a pass to Kelce set up Charles’s second touchdown run of the game after just a few plays.
All that success almost went up in smoke after Kelce’s fumble, though. Wilson drove the Seahawks down the field with a couple of long runs and they had three shots at the end zone in the final seconds. All three fell incomplete, however, and the Seahawks had to settle for inching a bit closer.
Charles had 78 yards on eight carries in the first half and Marshawn Lynch ran 12 times for 69 yards in what was a throwback half filled with long drives and power running in an era that usually tilts the other way. Such games can make turnovers extra costly, although the Chiefs were able to dodge a big bullet just before halftime.