The game went to the half tied 13-13 after a 40-yard field goal by Butker as the second quarter came to an end.

Mahomes was a master in the second half despite being under duress. Facing 3rd-and-18 on the opening drive of the third quarter, Mahomes withstood big-time pressure from Harrison Smith and Danielle Hunter and fired deep to Justin Watson who reached over the top of Cam Bynum for the catch and a 33-yard gain.

With Kelce on the sideline with his ankled taped, Mahomes completed 6 of 8 passes for 74 yards on the drive, including an eight-yard touchdown pass to Rashee Rice for a 20-13. And then came more problems for the Purple. Here they are in bullet points:

• Hockenson dropped a pass that hit his hands over the middle
• Vikings burn a timeout amid confusion on the next play
• Fail on third down and punt the ball back to the Chiefs
• Kelce makes great catch to convert on 3rd-and-9
• Vikings challenge the catch and lose the challenge and a timeout
• Harrison Smith flagged for pass interference on 4th-and-1
• Chiefs convert a first down after facing 1st-and-25 following a penalty
• Two plays later Mahomes finds Kelce for a touchdown

That series of problems had the Vikings trailing 27-13 at the start of the fourth quarter, though they were driving to end the third and they wound up punching it in for a touchdown after converting on 4th-and-6 to Addison and then Cousins hitting Alexander Mattison on a screen that went for a 9-yard touchdown to trim the Chiefs’ lead to 27-20 with 12:11 to play.

But Jefferson suffered a hamstring injury when he slipped on the field turf on the third down play, just two plays before Mattison’s touchdown. He did not return to the game.

Minnesota got the ball back trailing 27-20 with 8:55 to play. On first down, Christian Darrisaw was flagged for an illegal formation and on 1st-and-15 Hockenson had a third ball bounce off his hands for an incompletion. Hockenson was injured on the play and walked back to the sideline.

The Vikings wound up converting a first down and were marching down the field when Mattison’s trouble catching the ball reared its head and he dropped a screen pass that CBS analyst Tony Romo thought would’ve been a sure touchdown.