FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots would have liked to finish more decisively what they started in Sunday night’s 43-40 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
They wanted a complete 60-minute performance that showed they are the clear team to beat in the AFC. That didn’t happen.
But the end result was still pretty sweet, as these are the types of games — with just one punt between the teams and a tense finish in which clutch plays needed to be made down the stretch — that build championship mettle.
Even better for the Patriots: By improving to 4-2, and dropping the Chiefs to 5-1, it keeps them out of what could have been too deep of a hole from which to recover for possible home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs.
Of course, that’s a long way away.
The Patriots led 24-9 at halftime, which at their home stadium is one of the most ironclad locks in professional sports. Since quarterback Tom Brady took over as the starter in 2001, the Patriots are 95-1 in the regular season at home when leading at the half.
The lone loss came to the Chiefs (in the 2017 season opener), and in a stunning second-half turnaround Sunday night, it looked as if the Chiefs were ready to do it again.
A Patriots defense that forced two turnovers in the first half suddenly became vulnerable to the big play after halftime. Uncharacteristic decision-making from Brady led to a strip sack Kansas City quickly turned into a third-quarter touchdown.
But the Patriots showed mental toughness to overcome that slippage — a clutch play with the game on the line as old reliable Rob Gronkowski reeled in a 39-yard catch to set up the winning field goal at the final gun — in what was a playoff-type environment.
In doing so, the Patriots improved to 94-2 at home with Brady as a starter when they get a double-digit lead.
Bill Belichick has said that two of the most important characteristics of his best teams are mental toughness and the ability to rise up in the crucial situations to make winning plays. The 2018 Patriots showed Sunday night they are capable of that.
The Patriots next visit the Chicago Bears, who were one of the surprise stories of the NFL after their 3-1 start but came off their bye Sunday and fell to quarterback Brock Osweiler and the Miami Dolphins, 31-28 in overtime.