Patrick Mahomes, other NFLers react on Twitter to Chad Henne’s heroics that pushed Chiefs to AFC Championship

After losing Patrick Mahomes to injury in the third quarter, the Kansas City Chiefs found themselves fighting to hold off the Browns late in Sunday’s divisional round playoff game. Chiefs’ backup Chad Henne, who had never thrown a postseason pass in his 11-year NFL career before Sunday, was called upon to finish things out for Kansas City.

With a 22-17 lead and time running out in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs had the opportunity to put the game on ice if they could pick up a first down. The problem? They found themselves facing a 3rd &14 and it looked like the Browns might be able to get the ball back for a potential game-winning drive. Considering Henne had thrown a terrible interception on Kansas City’s previous drive, things were looking shaky for the Chiefs.

But Henne found an opportunity for redemption and seized his moment. After dropping back to pass on that long third down, he tucked the ball in and scrambled a big gain, diving at the first down marker. Though he was marked a few inches short, Andy Reid got aggressive and put the ball right back in Henne’s hands on fourth down. Henne completed a short pass to Ty Hill that effectively stamped the Chiefs’ ticket to a third straight AFC Championship Game.

Kansas City making it all the way to the conference title game is certainly no big shock, but doing it with Chad Henne as the late game hero? Well, that left many stunned…including Mahomes himself.

Other players from around the league showed love for Henne’s heroics, too.

Mahomes was ruled out with an apparent concussion during the second half on Sunday, so his status remains up in the air as the Chiefs will host the Buffalo Bills in next weekend’s conference championship. If Mahomes can’t go, the Chiefs will have to hope that Henne has some magic left in him.