The Kansas City Chiefs started their attempt at a historic third-straight Super Bowl victory with a thrilling 27-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night.
The Ravens thought they had tied the game up at 27-27 with zero seconds left on the clock but tight end Isaiah Likely’s toe was out of bounds as he caught Lamar Jackson’s pass.
Taylor Swift made her highly-anticipated return to Arrowhead Stadium as Travis Kelce and his teammates got their season off to the perfect start with a victory over a fierce AFC rival that could have playoff implications already.
It was also the perfect NFL debut for Chiefs rookie Xavier Worthy, who showed off his blistering speed to score two touchdowns.
Jackson, meanwhile, produced an inspired performance to keep the Ravens in the game but he agonizingly missed a pass to a wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone before he hit Likely, who was out of bounds, on the following play.
Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs claimed a 27-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens thought they had tied the game up at 27-27 when they scored with 0.0 seconds left
But Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely’s toe was out of bounds, sending the Chiefs fans wild
Taylor Swift made a triumphant return to Arrowhead Stadium, watching with Kelce’s parents
You would not bet against these two teams meeting in the AFC Championship game again on January 26, as they did last season when the Chiefs won in Baltimore and Swift ran onto the field to celebrate with a victorious Kelce.
The singer has become a regular at Chiefs games ever since her relationship with Kelce went public in September 2023. She watched 13 times last season, including the Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas.
Taking a break from her smash-hit Eras Tour, the popstar strolled into Arrowhead Stadium around 40 minutes after Kelce on Thursday night and stunned in a Versace denim co-ord and thigh-high red Giuseppe Zanotti boots.
However, the singer decided not to sit with Brittany Mahomes after the singer’s legion of fans begged her to snub the wife of star Chiefs quarterback Patrick because she appeared to endorse Donald Trump in the upcoming election.
As the partners of the Chiefs’ two biggest stars took their seats on the NFL’s opening night, both appeared to be in different suites. It is a marked difference from last season when they were inseparable at games.
Swift took her her usual spot in Kelce’s luxury suite alongside the tight end’s family and friends. She was captured sitting next to both of Kelce’s parents – Ed and Donna – in the first half.
Mahomes, meanwhile, was sat with her adorable daughter Sterling Skye in a different suite as she cheered on her husband.
After seven months without football, fans were forced to wait another 20 minutes for kickoff when a strong but brief storm passed over Arrowhead Stadium, bringing with it torrential rain and lightning.
Derrick Henry smashed through the Chiefs defense to score the first touchdown of the season
The speed of Xavier Worthy was too much for the Ravens defense as he burst through to score
Patrick Mahomes celebrates as the Chiefs got off to the perfect start to the new NFL season
Mahomes threw for 291 yards and a touchdown before a herculean effort by the Chiefs kept the Ravens out of the end zone on three consecutive plays in the closing seconds.
The game ended with a video review after Jackson appeared to connect with Likely in the back of the end zone with no time remaining for a touchdown.
The video clearly showed Likely’s toe landing on the endline, though, and the call was overturned, sending the Chiefs streaming off the bench in celebration.
It came seconds after Jackson missed a pass to Flowers, who had no defender around him. His quarterback insisted afterwards that Rashod Bateman was the intended target.
‘I saw Bateman fly across,’ Jackson said. ‘I’m thinking Bateman is going to stop and as I throw the ball I see Zay fly across. That wasn’t intended for Zay Flowers. I was teed off about that one because if I had held onto it for a bit longer, I’d have fired it to Zay. S*** happens.’
Rashee Rice caught seven passes for 103 yards for the Chiefs while Kelce caught three passes for 34 yards on a quiet night by his standards.
After each team scored a touchdown on their opening drive of the game and combined for three field goals in the second quarter, the Chiefs took a 20-10 lead on the first drive of the second half on a one-yard run by Isiah Pacheco.
Swift watched on as Kelce and the Chiefs beat the Ravens in a nail-biting finish on Thursday
Swift went wild when Chiefs rookie Xavier Worthy burst through the defense to score on debut
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson scrambles as Chiefs defenders chase him down
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker celebrates after making a 31-yard field goal during the first half
It was a fervent atmosphere at Arrowhead Stadium as the Chiefs marked last year’s success
Under pressure for much of the game behind an offensive line with three new starters, Jackson scrambled to his right and hit Likely for a 49-yard touchdown to cut the margin to three on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Jackson completed 26 of 41 passes for 273 yards with a touchdown and added 122 yards rushing on 16 carries.
On the ensuing drive, Worthy came up with perhaps the biggest play of the game, hauling in a pass from Mahomes on a second-and-10 play from the Baltimore 35 and giving the Chiefs a 27-17 lead with 10:25 to play.
A 32-yard field goal by Justin Tucker pulled the Ravens to within seven with 4:54 left in the game. Baltimore got the ball back at the two-minute warning but with no timeouts.
On a first-and-10 play with 43 seconds to play, Jackson threw a 38-yard pass to Bateman to the Kansas City 10 before Likely was ruled out of bounds on the game’s final play.
Jackson then threw a pair of incompletions before the ill-fated throw to Likely to end the game.
Baltimore Running back Derrick Henry, who was signed as a free agent this offseason, ran for 46 yards on 13 carries and scored on a five-yard run on the game’s opening drive.