Back-shoulder throws are the stuff of backyard legends, the kind of play a QB and his best receiver (in this situation, TE) perfect in a high school parking lot, the ball arcing just so as a friend peels off a route. Yet, here we were, on the NFL’s biggest stage, watching Patrick Mahomes launch a pass down the sideline, a ball that sailed past Travis Kelce ’ s right ear and hit the turf with a thud.

On the broadcast, a bewildered Cris Collinsworth broke it down: a “ playground ” play, a throw you’d expect from a kid in middle school, not two of the greatest to ever do it. Kelce had kept running straight, like a man sleepwalking through a field of dreams. On this particular Sunday night, the Chiefs , a team that hasn’t started a season 0-3 since 2011, before the current dyn

See Full Page