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12 numbers that prove the Chiefs-Rams shootout was a freakin’ football masterpiece

The Rams and Chiefs gave us one of the most entertaining football games ever Monday.

Kansas City Chiefs v Los Angeles Rams Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

The Los Angeles Rams’ 54-51 win over the Kansas City Chiefs was a gift of artistry from the football gods. It had it all. Patrick Mahomes threw six touchdowns, Jared Goff threw four, Rams linebacker Samson Ebukam had two defensive touchdowns, and the two teams combined for 1,001 yards of total offense.

The onslaught points wasn’t unexpected. The Rams and Chiefs have been offensive juggernauts all year and oddsmakers set the over/under for the Week 11 matchup at a record-setting 64 points. The under never stood a chance.

With the win, the Rams improved to 10-1 and are one more win or a Seahawks loss away from clinching the NFC West. The Chiefs dropped to 9-2, but still have a clear path to the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

Here are 12 numbers that tell the story of the instant classic:

105

Let’s just start off with the obvious one: the Chiefs and Rams combined to score 105 DAMN POINTS!

It’s only the third time since the 1970 merger that an NFL game had over 100 points. Only one game had more points — the Bengals’ 58-48 win over the Browns in 2004 — but Monday was the first with two teams over 50 points.

1045

If it’s the only game to ever have two teams score more than 50, you know what that means: Scorigami! The 1045th in NFL history, to be exact:

It’s been nearly a month since the last case of Scorigami — the Colts’ 37-5 win over the Bills in Week 7. But it seemed like an inevitability during the unprecedented scoring avalanche Monday.

217-1

The 2018 Chiefs are now the only team to ever put a 50-burger on the scoreboard and end up on the losing end. The Rams were the 217th team to eclipse 50 and get a win.

Scoring more than 50 points is still probably a winning strategy, though.

45.5

The Chiefs’ only other defeat this season was a 43-40 loss to the Patriots in Week 6. That adds up to a ridiculous amount of points in Kansas City’s pair of losses:

The explanation for the stat is probably that the Chiefs are capable of scoring 45, but usually take their foot off the gas in blowout wins and finish closer to 35 instead. Either that, or the Chiefs need to score less.

6

Patrick Mahomes became the first quarterback ever to throw six touchdown passes on Monday Night Football, but it wasn’t enough for the Chiefs to get a win. The Rams offense was the main reason for that, but Mahomes also didn’t do himself many favors by throwing three picks and fumbling twice. He was the first player in over a decade to throw six touchdowns and have a passer rating under 120.

Now only two quarterbacks have ever thrown at least five touchdowns and lost: Tony Romo and Mahomes:

And only two quarterbacks have ever thrown six touchdown passes with three interceptions: Mahomes and Len Dawson. That must be a Chiefs thing.

54

The Rams put up the most points for the franchise in 18 years. The Greatest Show on Turf version of the team blew out the Chargers, 57-31, early in the 2000 season.

Scoring this many points was unfathomable for the Rams just two years ago:

We do not miss you, Jeff Fisher.

2

That’s the number of Division I college basketball games that happened Monday that had fewer points scored than the NFL game.

Rutgers beat Eastern Michigan, 63-36, and Charlotte beat Longwood, 42-39.

“Basketball on grass” is a saying we may need to start taking more seriously.

11

One of the unfortunate byproducts of the surge of offense during the 2018 NFL season has been a lot of blowouts. That wasn’t the case in Week 11. The 3-point victory for the Rams was the 11th game of the week that was decided by five points or less.

Keep in mind that it happened while six teams were on bye. That’s 11 close games in a week with only 13 matchups.

The Colts’ 38-10 win over the Titans and the Saints’ 48-7 destruction of the Eagles were the only games that didn’t come down to the wire.

215

Tyreek Hill crossed the 200 receiving yards mark for the first time in his career with 10 receptions for 215 yards. It’s the most yards any receiver has had so far this season and the second most in Chiefs history. Nearly half that yardage for Hill came on his two touchdown grabs.

His first was a 21-yard touchdown in the second quarter and the second was a 73-yard bomb that included his signature peace sign:

The peace sign cost Kansas City a 15-yard taunting penalty, but it didn’t matter much because the Chiefs scored a defensive touchdown on the next possession when Allen Bailey scooped up a Jared Goff fumble.

Hill’s second touchdown also put him in elite company:

0

On a night with 105 freakin’ points, Todd Gurley didn’t score any. He entered Monday with an NFL-leading 17 rushing and receiving touchdowns, but the win was his first of the year that didn’t include a trip to the end zone. It snapped a 13-game scoring streak for Gurley that dated back to the end of the 2017 season.

He didn’t seem too broken up about it, though.

That probably won’t make fantasy owners feel any better, though.

Part of the reason for his quiet day may have been an injury, as it appeared as though he got banged up on a short reception early in the game. The Rams were also finding plenty of success against the Chiefs secondary and decided to have Goff throw 49 passes.

Even if Gurley didn’t score, he still had 94 yards on only 15 touches. That’s a great day for most players.

14.5

Aaron Donald reached a career high for sacks in a season last week when he got to Russell Wilson 2.5 times. Donald added a pair of strip sacks to that total Monday. He leads the NFL in just about every major defensive lineman stat:

What’s especially wild about Donald’s domination is that he does it while being double-teamed the majority of the time he’s on the field.

Donald was the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year and that season wasn’t even close to as great as this one. Considering all 14.5 of his sacks happened in his last eight games, getting to 20 sacks on the year seems like a realistic possibility for Donald.

14

Each team scored seven touchdowns. That total of 14 was more than the 13 touchdowns the Buffalo Bills have scored so far this ENTIRE SEASON.

Six years ago in 2012, the Chiefs scored 19 touchdowns over the course of their 2-14 season. The year before that, the Rams only scored 18 touchdowns.

Long live Sean McVay and Andy Reid.