The Chiefs overcome rainy weather and Patrick Mahomes' injury scare to improve to a perfect 8-0

CNN
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The Kansas City Chiefs experienced their fair share of adversity when they faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night. The Super Bowl champions overcame rainy weather, an injury scare to their MVP quarterback and a spirited Buccaneers team to claim a 30-24 overtime victory and improve to a perfect 8-0 on the season.

The back-to-back NFL champions got off to a sloppy start at rain-soaked Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs trailed 17-10 after three quarters, but winning from behind is nothing new for this team.

In the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, Patrick Mahomes threw a clever seven-yard pass to running back Samaje Perine to tie the game. But the celebration turned to panic in Chiefs Kingdom when Mahomes fell awkwardly to the ground during the game, apparently suffering an injury that was not caused by physical contact.

Mahomes lay on the turf clutching his left ankle and eventually had to be helped off the field by team trainers. But a few minutes later, he left the medical tent and jogged up and down the Chiefs sideline, drawing a roar of approval from the home crowd.

Not missing a beat, Mahomes later connected with DeAndre Hopkins for the wide receiver's second touchdown of the game, giving the Chiefs a 24-17 lead.

Mahomes finished the game completing 34 of 44 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns.

“I was kind of concentrating on playing the football, then at the last second I saw Samaje and kind of awkwardly twisted my ankle a little bit,” Mahomes said after the game, describing the injury.

“Definitely scary. I think it hurt more because it was the same ankle I rolled last week. So it scared me a little bit, but once I got my breath back and calmed down a little bit, it ended up not being that bad.”

However, the Bucs, plagued by their recent injuries, did not go quietly into the rainy night in Kansas City. In the two-minute offense, quarterback Baker Mayfield led a brilliant 71-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 1-yard scoring pass to Ryan Miller.

Tampa Bay chose to kick the extra point to tie the game at 24 rather than attempt a two-point conversion to take the lead, and the game went into overtime.

Mayfield and Mahomes met at midfield for the overtime coin toss, where Mayfield called tails but the coin came heads, sealing the Buccaneers' fate.

Like countless times before, Mahomes calmly orchestrated a game-winning drive. The two-time NFL MVP led the Chiefs 70 yards downfield, culminating in a 2-yard touchdown plunge from running back Kareem Hunt for the game-winning score.

Aside from extending their perfect start as the only undefeated team in the league to 8-0, the Chiefs have even more reason to be optimistic after Monday's triumph.

After a slow start to the season, All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce posted his second straight big game. Kelce had a career-high 14 receptions for 100 yards in the regular season that night, while his global megastar girlfriend Taylor Swift was there to cheer him on.

The Chiefs will look to extend their undefeated start to the season in Week 10 against division rival Denver Broncos. The Buccaneers return home where they hope to end a three-game losing streak against the San Francisco 49ers.