It looked like the Chiefs might have to play the Steelers without wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce after both players landed on the COVID-19 reserve list last week, but they wound up gettin Hill back in time for the Week 16 game.
As it turned out, they didn’t really need him. Hill started and caught two passes for 19 yards on the opening drive of the game, but only played 29 snaps overall and the Chiefs had plenty of players step up on offense. Eight other players caught passes from Mahomes in a 36-10 win and it was clear that a week of practices without the two stars set the offense up for success.
“Whenever guys get their opportunities, they can step up and make plays. I’m just going to go through the reads,” Mahomes said, via Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. “I’m going to find the open guy. We have a lot of good players on this team that are going to make plays happen.”
There’s no reason to think that Hill and Kelce won’t be back in their customary spots in the offense once they’re fully back in the mix, but Sunday’s performance was the latest sign of the team’s ability to adapt its offense to different situations and the multitude of options on hand will only make it harder for opposing defenses to stop them come the postseason.