Chiefs talk “Fitzmagic” after clinching miraculous first-round bye

The Kansas City Chiefs earned a first-round playoff bye on Sunday, in part thanks to their 31-21 Arrowhead Stadium win over the Los Angeles Chargers. But that was considered the easy part.

The taller task came in Foxborough, where the Miami Dolphins — a 16-point underdog — defeated the New England Patriots 27-24.

Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick went 28 for 41 for 320 yards and one touchdown — the game-winning score on the final Miami drive of the game.

“I want to send him some Kansas City steaks — he did a nice job,” said Chiefs head coach Andy Reid of Fitzpatrick before backtracking. “I can’t do that though because that’s tampering, so I’m not going to do that. But he deserves them.”

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes also weighed in on Miami’s win after the Chiefs’ game.

“Obviously playing in Gillette it would be hard for them to get a win, but that’s Fitzmagic, man,” said Mahomes, “He does things that are awesome to watch and they found a way to get a win... There was no scoreboard (at Arrowhead) at all that had any number of stats so the best I got at one point, I saw that (Tom) Brady had one touchdown and one interception. I was trying to add that together and try to see what the score was.”

The Chiefs may not send steaks (they’ve been through a tampering mess before), but some KC barbecue is already in the works — Kansas City, Missouri mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted he is planning on sending some to Miami mayor Francis Suarez.

Still, that is not “Fitzmagic.”

That in mind, Chiefs fans have started a petition to get Fitzpatrick to bang the drum prior to the Chiefs’ Divisional round playoff game on January 12 at Arrowhead Stadium. As of this writing, more than 13,500 Chiefs fans have signed the petition.

Of course, there is no precedent for whether that is even allowed — he is still under contract with the Dolphins until 2021. Regardless, the Chiefs are looking forward to their surprise week off.

“The extra week off is great to have this year,” added Reid. “You work hard for that. Being 12-4 is a great accomplishment for our football team, and then you’re rewarded with this here. I’m proud of the guys for pushing through today because that’s a tough thing to do. It’s not easy because you don’t know the scores and you have to have the mindset coming into this thing. I mean the Dolphins were a 16-point underdog going into this or whatever it was.

“It’s a great example of why you play. If you’re on that field, you go 100 miles per hour and you play your heart out.”