KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yes, Patrick Mahomes was under the weather.
No, that’s not the reason the Kansas City Chiefs lost for the first time in nearly 3,000 days to the Denver Broncos on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High.
“He was sick, but he’s not going to use that as an excuse — none of us will do that,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He wasn’t feeling well, but he was able to do some good things out there.”
Mahomes finished 24 of 38 for 241 yards in the 24-9 loss. He lost a fumble in the red zone and threw two interceptions, his 11th multi-pick game in 88 career regular-season starts.
“I just started feeling bad last night, but I thought I’d bounce back pretty well in the morning,” said Mahomes, who indicated he was primarily dealing with stomach issues. “I was just trying to do whatever I can to go out there and play my best football.”
Mahomes’ three turnovers were only the tip of the iceberg for Kansas City, which committed five total turnovers and only forced one.
Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a fumble and wide receiver Mecole Hardman Jr. muffed a punt as the Chiefs coughed up 17 points off turnovers in the franchise’s first loss to the Broncos since September 2015 and Mahomes’ first road loss against an AFC West opponent as a starter.
“Five turnovers, 0 of 3 in the red zone, 17 points we gave them, really off of turnovers and great field position — I take full responsibility for it,” Kansas City coach Andy Reid said. “I saw things tonight that I haven’t seen before from the guys. That’s my responsibility to make sure they’re right, and we weren’t right today.”
Reid, who said he never considered Mahomes for the game, zeroed in on the turnovers as the main issue.
“We didn’t execute the way we needed to,” Reid said. “I’ve got to go back and look at the things that I called — not very good. ... [But] things happen. You’ve got to work it out, take it to heart, learn from it and move on.”
The Chiefs had their worst third-down performance of the season, going 3 for 10, and only came up with six points in three trips to the red zone.
That includes the first completely empty trip to the red zone of the season.
Kansas City’s struggles to score touchdowns, as indicated by a 57.1% red-zone TD percentage, have been a talking point in recent weeks, but until Sunday, every one of those possessions that didn’t end the game — the final drives at Jacksonville and the New York Jets — at least netted a field goal.
The Chiefs only went 4 of 13 on third down, tied for the second-worst in any this season, and punched one of five red-zone possessions into the end zone during a meeting 17 days ago against the Broncos.
“They do a good job against us with their defense,” Mahomes said. “But we’ve got to execute at a high enough level, and we clearly haven’t in the two games against them. ... The Broncos did a great job of making us be patient. They had a great game plan and executed it.”
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