This isn’t the start Patrick Mahomes or any of the Kansas City Chiefs envisioned this season after Monday night’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguarsa critical collapse in the team’s third loss in five games.
The Chiefs led 14-0 in the first half and appeared to be in full control of the contest in the third quarter before a goal-line giveaway and late heroics in the final minute from Trevor Lawrence resulted in the 31-28 loss.
This is only the second time in Mahomes’ tenure with the Chiefs that Kansas City has started 2-3 through five weeks. When this happened previously in 2021, the Chiefs would go on to reach the AFC Championship Game before falling to the Bengals.
“We have the guys and we executed at certain points in plays and we looked really good and then we crash with penalties and mistakes and interceptions and fumbles or whatever,” Mahomes said. “We’ve kind of been doing that to ourselves all season. It’s a little bit of a guy here or there. In this league, it’s so close that those (moments) change games. We have to be better.
“We’ve lost too many games already. We have to find a way to be better as a team, come together and play better throughout the season.”
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Leading by a third-quarter touchdown and knocking on the door of another score, Mahomes threw a 99-yard interception return to Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd. It was a grueling game for Kansas City and took the momentum away from the Jacksonville team.
“Honestly, they just got me with the coverage they played,” Mahomes said. “They had played zero inside that 10-yard zone in previous games and they hadn’t shown the Poppers with the linebackers who were protected when they were protected…I think back to a game against Cincinnati early in the year, they hit Ja’marr Chase on a tilt route.
“I saw the look and checked the play with the routes, knowing they were going to pass guys…they positioned themselves and jumped underneath where I was going to throw the ball.”
The Chiefs saw a 22-game winning streak when they led by 14 or more points when Lawrence rushed for a touchdown on the Jaguars’ final possession.
It came minutes after Mahomes led a 126-yard, 86-yard touchdown drive, capped by Kareem Hunt’s second score of the fourth quarter. Later, a Lawrence interception was negated by defensive holding, one of 13 penalties for 109 yards on the night for the Chiefs.
