‘The stuff he’s doing just doesn’t happen.’ (How Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes did it again)

In the most superficial but measurable sense of his basic stat line, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had a largely pedestrian performance on Saturday in his team’s 23-14 victory over the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs.

Albeit up against blustery winds that had at least some impact at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, he threw for just 177 yards — the fewest in his 19 career postseason games. He completed just 16 passes (in 25 attempts), matching the fewest connections he’s had in a playoff game.

Among other highlights, though, he furnished another majestic marquee moment in the ever-expanding portfolio that we can only hope to comprehend in real time.

But it wasn’t just that it was a mesmerizing play.

It was that he delivered it, as he so preposterously yet routinely does, when the Chiefs absolutely, positively had to have it. They were nursing a 13-12 lead early in the fourth quarter after the Texans had whittled into a 10-point margin on back-to-back drives that consumed 14 minutes, 34 seconds.

Presto, Mahomes and the Chiefs flipped the script from out of the danger zone into taking charge.

Facing third and goal at the Houston 11, and yet again facing a ferocious Texans pass rush, Mahomes hustled up into the middle of the pocket and into the grasp of Mario Edwards Jr. as he fell forward. …

And defied physics to fire the ball to tight end Travis Kelce in the end zone.

As he took in the play on the sideline, defensive line star Chris Jones summed up the moment — and maybe something more — thusly:

“We did it again; Pat and Trav did it again, that is,” he said, smiling.

“Just when you think you got ‘em, you don’t.”

Many a team thought just that this season about the Chiefs, who won 11 games by within one score, and many of those in the last 2 minutes — and most of those on the final play.

And then they were left tackling air.

As the Chiefs seek this unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat, there are many reasons taking them down has become so elusive.

On the other side of the ball, for instance, they were fourth in the league in points allowed (19.2 a game) and amassed a staggering eight sacks against the Texans.

But there’s nothing quite like having an indomitable force of nature at the most important position on the field.

A player who now is 7-0 in the divisional round and 16-3 in the postseason (for a franchise that had won eight in its entire existence), tying Joe Montana for second place on the career quarterback ledger a galaxy away from Tom Brady’s 35.

A player whose postseason winning percentage (.842) is the best in NFL history among quarterbacks with more than 10 starts, and his playoff quarterback rating (now 105.57) is the best of any quarterback with six or more starts.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid generally is restrained in his praise even of Mahomes, with whom he enjoys a remarkable synergy.

But asked about that play, he immediately shook his head and used terms like “unbelievable” and “incredible.”

Then he reminded us all of something about this moment in time, in the eye of the phenomenon.

“I always tell our coaches don’t get used to that. I mean, this is unreal …” Reid said. “We’re very lucky to have him here. And the stuff he’s doing just doesn’t happen.

“That’s why he’s the greatest at doing what he’s done in a relatively young career here.”

Coming when it did in what suddenly had become a highly losable game, the overall drive was testimony to that.

On their first possession of the second half with 4:36 to go in the third quarter, the Chiefs were backed up to their own 10 yard line after a holding call on Trey Smith.

But they converted a vital third and 6 on Mahomes’ 12-yard pass to Kelce.

Even after they were the beneficiary of a brutal unnecessary roughness call on the Texans, whose only helmet-to-helmet contact on the play was with each other, they faced a fourth and 1 at the Houston 37 converted on a Kareem Hunt run.

After an 18-yard pass to Kelce took the Chiefs to the 8, though, Mahomes was sacked and then flushed from the pocket to leave them up against third and goal from the 11 and on the verge of settling for a field goal that didn’t feel like it was going to be enough.

Then Mahomes unfurled the signature play of the day.

As he tried to explain it afterward, Mahomes wasn’t able to convey just how he did it so much as what it took to make it happen — an answer that in many ways reflects his essence and the stuff inside that distinguishes him.

When I asked him how he got the ball where he wanted to even as he was about to faceplant, he chuckled and said, “Everything I got.”

Then he noted his movement workouts over the years with Bobby Stroupe, who has been his personal trainer for some 20 years.

Pausing, he added, “You find a way in those big moments. And that was a big moment.”

Yet another seized by Mahomes.

One that propelled the Chiefs to their seventh straight AFC Championship Game and secured career victory No. 300 for Reid — one of just four NFL coaches ever to cross that threshold.

With a smile, Reid said he had joked with the team “that if you get a couple more you might be able to equal my weight.”

More seriously, he said “a lot of people” go into that record.

While Mahomes credited Reid with “pretty much all of my success,” none of those “lot of people” has had a more pivotal impact on Reid reaching this stature than Mahomes.

Because the stuff he’s doing just doesn’t happen.