Andy Reid's Kansas City Chiefs were seemingly in cruise control heading into halftime of the AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals. However, Patrick Mahomes and company faltered in the second half, opening up an opportunity for the Bengals, who roared back to seize the win and a Super Bowl berth.

The normally explosive Chiefs offense was awfully quiet in the second half, sparking criticisms of Mahomes. Reid spoke to reporters and dropped a truth bomb on his star QB after their collapse against the Bengals, via NFL.com.

“I think he was one half away from going to his third Super Bowl in a row, and that's pretty impressive,” Reid said of Mahomes when asked about his quarterback's season. “You've been around this a long time as a lot of us have, and that's pretty impressive. Most of these teams that are getting this far have good quarterbacks, that's just how it works. We're fortunate to have him. There's nobody looking at Pat Mahomes cross-eyed from our side and I would anticipate our fans feel the same way.”

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Mahomes shouldn't be exempt from criticisms for the Chiefs' collapse against the Bengals. However, as Reid said, no one should hit Mahomes too hard, given that he was legitimately one half of football away from making his third straight Super Bowl.

Reid and the Chiefs are fortunate to have Mahomes, just like the veteran mentor said. And as long as the Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes, they should be in position to add to their Lombardi Trophy case more often than not.