The Jacksonville Jaguars and an ankle injury for quarterback Patrick Mahomes couldn’t keep the Kansas City Chiefs from reaching the AFC Championship Game for the fifth consecutive season.

The Chiefs took a 27-20 victory on Saturday in a Divisional Playoffs game even though Mahomes left for the locker room in the second quarter after sustaining an ankle injury.

But with the NFL’s leading passer out of the game, backup QB Chad Henne directed a 12-play, 98-yard drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce as Kansas City took a 17-7 lead with 3:54 left in the first half.

“It was great to see Chad come in in that backup role,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “And I thought everyone kind of stepped their game up. And had so much confidence in Chad, and he executed. But I thought everyone around him did a nice job, too.”

Kelce also had caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to open the scoring and finished the game with 14 receptions for 98 yards and two touchdowns.

Mahomes returned in the second half and went 22-of-30 passing for 195 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions for the game. He had passed for more than 200 yards in every regular-season game.

Reid said Mahomes had X-rays taken of his ankle, then got it re-taped while out of the game.

“He said he felt good enough to be protected, where he’s not going to get hurt,” Reid said. “That’s obviously the primary thing. And he felt like his mobility was good enough where he could do that. We did a few little things with him on the sidelines to see where he was at, put him in and it was a short leash. If I felt like he wasn’t able to handle it, he would have been out.”

Mahomes led a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that gave the Chiefs a 27-17 lead with 7:08 remaining.

Jacksonville lost a fumble at the Kansas City 3-yard line on its next possession, and the series after that ended when quarterback Travis Lawrence was intercepted at the Chiefs 30 with 3:48 to play.

Lawrence completed 24-of-39 passes for 217 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran three times for 26 yards.

Five players from Alabama high schools and colleges got on the field during the Jacksonville-Kansas City game:

· Josh Allen (Abbeville) started at weakside linebacker for the Jaguars. Allen made three tackles.

· Jaguars tight end Gerrit Prince (UAB) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

· Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley (Alabama) is suspended by the commissioner and not eligible to play.

· Jaguars offensive tackle Cam Robinson (Alabama) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.

· Chiefs wide receiver Justyn Ross (Central-Phenix City) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.

· Jaguars defensive end/outside linebacker Jordan Smith (UAB) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.

· Jaguars safety Daniel Thomas (Lee-Montgomery, Auburn) made a tackle on special teams.

· Jaguars safety Deionte Thompson (Alabama) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

· Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney (Blount) had five receptions for 36 yards, gained 14 yards on a rushing attempt and returned three punts for 23 yards.

· Chiefs offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho (Edgewood Academy, Auburn) played but did not record any stats.

· Darious Williams (UAB) started at cornerback for the Jaguars. Williams made three tackles and broke up a pass.

· Jaguars center Darryl Williams (Bessemer City) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

· Jaguars wide receiver Seth Williams (Paul Bryant, Auburn) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

After having the worst record in the NFL in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Jacksonville won the AFC South with a 9-8 mark and opened the playoffs with a 31-30 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. During the regular season, the Jaguars lost the Chiefs 27-17 on Nov. 13.

Kansas City will play in the AFC Championship Game at 5:30 p.m. CST Jan. 29 at a site that will be determined on Sunday. If the Cincinnati Bengals defeat the Buffalo Bills in the AFC’s other Divisional Playoffs game, then Kansas City will play at home. If the Bills beat the Bengals, then the AFC Championship Game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The neutral-site championship site was the NFL’s solution to the unequal number of games for the Chiefs and Bills. Buffalo defeated Kansas City 24-20 on Oct. 16 and would have been the No. 1 seed and held homefield advantage in the AFC playoffs if it had defeated Cincinnati on Jan. 2. But that game never went past the first quarter because of a critical health emergency suffered by Bills safety Damar Hamlin, so when the regular season ended, Buffalo had a 13-3 record and Kansas City had a 14-3 mark.

In addition to location, the Chiefs also have a question mark on their quarterback for next week’s game.

“We’ll see,” Reid said about Mahomes’ injury. “I don’t want to jump to things right now. Let’s just see how it goes here the next couple of days. It’s going to be sore, I know. Let’s see where he’s at. He’s had this before and was able to keep pushing through.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.