If you squinted hard enough at your TV screen on Christmas Day, you might have thought Patrick Mahomes was back under center for the Kansas City Chiefs.
During the Chiefs' holiday showdown against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium, quarterback Chris Oladokun, starting in place of the injured Mahomes and Gardner Minshew, delivered a play so chaotic and magical it could have been copyrighted by No. 15 himself.
Late in the game with the score knotted up, Kansas City faced a 2nd and 7 from their own 30-yard line. The pocket collapsed almost instantly, forcing Oladokun to scramble for his life. As he rolled out, disaster nearly struck; the ball slipped from his grasp, bouncing dangerously on the turf.
#Chiefs QB Chris Oladokun just pulled off one of those “how the heck did he do that?” plays you usually see from Patrick Mahomes.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 26, 2025
In a moment of pure panic-turned-poise, Oladokun scooped the ball back up without breaking stride, kept his eyes downfield, and fired a strike to a wide-open JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The completion moved the chains and sent Arrowhead into a frenzy. It was the kind of improvisation that has defined the Chiefs' offense for years, except this time, it came from the third-string signal-caller making his first career start.
Oladokun, who had already thrown his first career touchdown pass to rookie Brashard Smith earlier in the game, showed remarkable resilience against a stout Broncos defense. While the stat sheet won’t show the heart-stopping nature of the fumble-recovery-throw sequence, it was undoubtedly the highlight of the night.
For a team decimated by injuries, with Mahomes and Minshew both sidelined, moments like this provide a glimmer of hope. Oladokun might not be the two-time MVP, but for one wild play on Christmas, he did a pretty convincing impression.



















