KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For 12 glorious seconds, nearly 74,000 pairs of eyes at Arrowhead Stadium trailed No. 15 in red as the Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback deked a speedy linebacker, spun through two defenders and dove into the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown run that, for all intents and purposes, ended the AFC championship game.

Nevermind the fact the score gave the Chiefs only a four-point lead, and that there were still two quarters left to go in Kansas City’s historic 35-24 victory, or even that the run was arguably the greatest play of Patrick Mahomes’ career (which is saying something).

To Chiefs fans, after years of postseason heartbreak — more than those outside the state of Missouri understand — it just meant more.

View photos The Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes (15), Travis Kelce and Tyrann Mathieu (32) celebrate after winning the AFC championship on Sunday. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga) More

That fan base included actors Paul Rudd and Eric Stonestreet, who each whooped it up during the game. The two were spotted postgame offering congratulations and hugs to Chiefs players and front-office executives. They also posed for photos with the Lamar Hunt Trophy, reveling in the moment.





View photos Eric Stonestreet (L) of "Modern Family" shares a moment with Chiefs general manager Brett Veach. (Terez Paylor/Yahoo Sports) More

The Chiefs caused Paul Rudd to live his own meme pic.twitter.com/09kxOh7VqB — Pick Six Podcast (@picksixpod) January 20, 2020

For one of Chiefs fans’ own to make a play like that — an “I’m the best guy on the field, dammit, and we’re not going to lose this playoff game” play — on the stage he did, against a team that plays a smash-mouth style that has given K.C. fits in the recent past, it represented a physical manifestation for why things are different now.

It’s why, finally, mercifully, the Chiefs’ playoff curse that resulted in a 50-year Super Bowl drought, is officially vanquished.

“It’s over,” fullback Anthony Sherman, who has been a Chief since Andy Reid’s first year (2013), told Yahoo Sports. “We don’t even look at it.”

Patrick Mahomes helps erase generations of Chiefs misery

It’s a realization that wasn’t lost on many longtime Chiefs who were reveling in the glory of Mahomes’ latest franchise-cleansing victory, one that was powered by a run that told the Titans that the Chiefs were not about to lose this game despite trailing 17-7 midway through the second quarter.

“A guy like that, making a play like that … as the other team, I can only [imagine] how unstoppable we felt to them at that point,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce told Yahoo Sports, shaking his head.

On the sideline, Dustin Colquitt, the Chiefs’ longest-tenured player, watched in awe.

“I was like — how is he doing this?” Colquitt asked. “And then he’s going to get in [the end zone]? I don’t know how he keeps doing this, because he’s a big guy [6-foot-3, 225 pounds], and when he starts running … he just knows how to do that last little spin and that last little dive. He just has three eyes or something.”

For 15 seasons, Colquitt has had a front-row seat to the Chiefs’ cacophony of postseason failures. Year after year, they suffered one crushing upset defeat after another.

A blown 28-point lead in 2014. Two straight playoff home losses in 2017 and 2018. Two defeats to New England in 2016 and 2019. For most of those games, the Chiefs were favored, thus contributing to the narrative that head coach Andy Reid couldn’t win the big one.

Story continues