CLEVELAND — The only thing the Chiefs had to worry about in the final minutes Sunday was Patrick Mahomes’ ankle.
Mahomes threw two touchdown passes before limping off with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter, Xavier Worthy ran for a score and Kansas City finally had a relatively easy win, 21-7 over the mistake-prone Cleveland Browns.
Mahomes connected for TDs in the first half with Juju Smith-Schuster and Noah Gray as the Chiefs (13-1) built a 21-0 lead and then slogged their way through an ugly second half.
The defending Super Bowl champions have 10 wins by seven points or less, with six coming on the game’s final play.
Mahomes didn’t finish the game, leaving when he got his ankle rolled up on while being tackled by Dalvin Tomlinson on a fourth-down incompletion. Carson Wentz replaced him for the final 5:23. Mahomes finished 19 of 38 for 159 yards.
After the game, Mahomes said X-rays were negative. He said he would have lobbied harder to stay in if the Browns had gotten within one score.
‘‘We’ll get into the rehab part, the treatment part and try to get back on a short week,‘’ said Mahomes, noting the Chiefs will play again Saturday — the second of three games in 11 days. ‘’With all the adrenaline from the game, it’s hard to tell now (if he can play). Usually, it’s the day after when you get a good sense of it.”
Before Wentz went in, Mahomes had his left ankle re-taped while on the bench. He walked gingerly off the field but didn’t favor it while in the locker room or going to his postgame news conference. He was driven to the Chiefs’ buses on a cart.