KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs enraged fans around the NFL last Sunday with a 16-14 win against Denver on Leo Chenal’s blocked field goal as time expired.
The Chiefs have won two consecutive Super Bowls, three of the last five and entered Sunday riding a 15-game win streak overall.
Non-Chiefs fans across the league, who have been praying on their downfall, couldn’t stand watching Kansas City snatch victory from the jaws of defeat once again.
“More than anything, there was a confidence that we were going to make it happen at the end of games,” Mahomes said.
After winning a remarkable nine straight games when trailing by seven points or more, the law of averages finally caught up with the Chiefs, who came up short 30-21 on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.
It was the ninth time in 10 games this season Kansas City trailed. The Chiefs are now 8-1 in those games, but there are lessons to be learned — and that may hit home more with a loss on their season ledger.
“I’m hoping that it is a benefit,” Patrick Mahomes said. “I’m not going to say we were relaxed, but we were just coming away with these wins at the end of games. I think it’s going to spark us to have more urgency, especially at the start of games.”
That starts with Mahomes, who has yet to throw a first-quarter touchdown but now has five first-quarter interceptions after throwing a pick on the second play of Sunday’s loss. He’s got a 62.9 quarterback rating in the first quarter this season, using the NFL passer rating calculation.
“We’ve got to have a better sense of urgency — or I have to have a better sense of urgency — throughout the entire game,” Mahomes said.
That also includes the third quarter.
Mahomes has been dominant in the second quarter of games and has been his usual clutch self in the fourth quarter and overtime, but he’s only thrown two touchdowns with four interceptions in third quarters this season. He’s sitting at a 64.8 QB rating in the third quarter through 10 games.
“The hope is that this is a spark for us, that we can play better football going throughout the rest of the regular season and into the postseason,” Mahomes said.
That starts with better play in the first and third quarters, when Mahomes has posted a 68.4 QB rating with four touchdowns — two Sunday in Buffalo — and nine interceptions. He’s averaging fewer than 95 yards per game in those quarters combined.
Kansas City’s bid for perfection is finished, but the chance at NFL history as the first team to win three straight Super Bowls remains alive and well.
“I don’t think we ever put too much stress on that whole aspect,” tight end Noah Gray said. “We just take it game by game.”
Heck, the Chiefs still control their own fate for the top seed and a first-round playoff bye.
Kansas City (9-1) has a half-game lead on Buffalo (9-2), which now owns the tiebreaker if the teams finish with identical records, and a one-game lead on Pittsburgh (8-2. The Steelers host the Chiefs on Christmas Day, a game that will air on Netflix.
“You can use it as fuel,” Mahomes said. “That’s a good football team, so nothing to hang your head about losing to them. But we feel like we can play better, so we’ll get back to work and try to use this as a spark so we can be a better football team in the end. The undefeated thing was cool, but that’s not our ultimate goal. So, we’ll keep building towards that.”
It starts with getting back on track against a rested and surging Carolina squad.
After going 1-7 during the season’s first two months, the Panthers started November with wins against New Orleans and the New York Giants before enjoying a bye Sunday.
“We’re really looking forward to next week,” Gray said. “We’re just going to come back out to practice, be the best possible team that we can in practice, learn from it, look at the film and move forward, listen to our coaches, and ultimately be better for it (the loss to the Bills) down the road.”
Kansas City and Buffalo may meet again.
The Bills are 4-1 against the Chiefs during the last five years in the regular season, but Kansas City is 3-0 against Buffalo in the postseason during that span.
“That’s a really good football team,” Mahomes said. “It’s going to take your best football to beat great football teams, and we didn’t play our best football today. They went out there and beat us. That’s how it rolls in the NFL. All respect to them — that’s a good football team that we’ll probably see again.”
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