Kansas City Chiefs kept their bid for three straight Super Bowl titles alive as they beat the Houston Texans 23-14 in the divisional round of the play-offs.

Patrick Mahomes found Travis Kelce with a touchdown pass to give the Chiefs breathing room in the fourth quarter and their defence kept the Texans at bay in the closing minutes.

The win clinched a seventh successive AFC Championship game appearance for the Chiefs and saw coach Andy Reid become only the fourth coach to win 400 games in the NFL.

Mahomes, who threw for 177 yards and a touchdown, also matched Joe Montana with 16 play-off wins, second only to Tom Brady among quarterbacks.

They will face the Buffalo Bills or Baltimore Ravens as they look to become the first back-to-back champions to return to the Super Bowl.

Two Harrison Butker field goals, either side of a reply from Ka’imi Fairbairn, opened a 6-3 lead in the first quarter which was stretched when Kareem Hunt ran for a touchdown from a yard out.

Fairbairn cut the gap with a field goal before half-time but missed an extra point to tie the game in the third quarter after Joe Mixon’s 13-yard touchdown run. Fairbairn also missed a field goal attempt from 55 yards and had a late effort blocked.

Despite being tackled and falling, Mahomes found Kelce from 11 yards as the Chiefs eased ahead in the final quarter, Butker stretching the advantage with another field goal before they conceded a late safety to leave the Texans with no time to respond.

Quarterback CJ Stroud threw for 245 yards, but was sacked eight times as the Texans’ search for a divisional-round win continued.