KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Believe it or not, the Kansas City Chiefs’ 3-0 start is the franchise’s first since 2020.
Kansas City rallied past the Atlanta Falcons 22-17 on Sunday Night Football to stay perfect in their bid for the first three-peat in NFL history.
It’s the sixth time the Chiefs have started 3-0 or better in coach Andy Reid’s 11 seasons in Kansas City.
The Chiefs started 9-0 in his first season with the franchise in 2013, then started at least 4-0 in four straight seasons from 2017-20.
Kansas City trailed 14-13 at halftime, but it easily could have been Atlanta staring down a deficit in the locker room.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who appeared to tweak his ankle trying to kneel down on the game's penultimate play but seemed fine after the game, threw an interception in the end zone on the Chiefs’ opening drive.
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The Falcons’ second touchdown came after a questionable roughing-the-passer call against Chris Jones kept the drive going.
But the Chiefs turned things around in the second half.
“I was proud of our defense and how they stepped up in that third and fourth quarter,” Reid said.
Kansas City had nearly 10 more minutes of possession and bottled up the Falcons’ run game, surviving a late scare when linebacker Nick Bolton shot the gap on a stretch run off-tackle for a 3-yard loss on a fourth-down Bijan Robinson carry in the final minute.
“Bolton right there at the end, what a phenomenal play that was,” Reid said.
Robinson finished with 16 carries for 31 yards, a meager 1.9-yard average, while Bolton had eight tackles, including three for a loss.
Mahomes finished 26 of 39 for 217 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He connected with Rashee Rice 12 times for 110 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
METHODICAL OFFENSE: Kansas City’s opening drive covered 75 yards on 17 plays before Atlanta safety Justin Simmons sniffed out Mahomes’ lob to Noah Gray on a deep corner, undercut it and snagged his sixth career interception against the two-time MVP.
Simmons spent his first eight seasons in Denver, where he was a two-time Pro Bowler and four-time second-team All-Pro. He has 31 career interceptions, so more than 19% have come against Mahomes.
“Those are mistakes that you can’t make in the red zone, but it seems like I make them against Simmons every time,” Mahomes said.
Simmons’ six INTs against Mahomes are the most by any active player against another active player.
Still, it was a promising first drive for Kansas City, which had four drives of double-digit plays (and scored on each of the other three).
“I think the O-line took it upon themselves to accept the challenge,” Mahomes said. “If you saw how the game went and those long drives, their defense was staying back. They were going to force us to run the football and throw it short. We did that good enough to get the win.”
Mahomes completed 6 of 10 passes to four different receivers for 40 yards, while the rushing attack contributed more than 4 yards per carry.
The second drive was another methodical march — 79 yards over 13 plays capped by Mahomes’ 13-yard touchdown toss to Rice on a crossing route.
The Chiefs then opened the second half with back-to-back 11-play drives, which turned a one-point halftime deficit into an eight-point lead.
After receiving the third-quarter kickoff, Kansas City marched 67 yards before settling for a 21-yard Harrison Butker field goal, which provided the first lead of the game at 16-14.
The Falcons went three-and-out before an 80-yard touchdown drive capped by Mahomes’ 13-yard TD toss to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
FEEDING KELCE: Future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce had only two catches for four yards in the first half, giving him six catches for 43 yards on nine targets in the first 2 1/2 games of the season — very un-Kelce-like numbers.
But that changed in the second half.
Mahomes hit Kelce for a 9-yard gain on the first play of the second half and later tossed a 17-yard completion to the Chiefs’ all-time leader in receiving yards.
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He was only targeted one other time, finishing with four catches for 30 yards, but it showed Kansas City's intent to keep him involved.
"He understands," Mahomes said of Kelce. "I think that’s the great thing about him. He wants to make an impact in the game but he wants to win at the end of the day. I’m going to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he's there and whenever he’s open."
REPLACING PACHECO: Isiah Pacheco was a seventh-round pick from Rutgers in 2022, but he’s outplayed that draft position in his first two NFL seasons.
Pacheco — a battering ram of a running back who has endeared himself to Chiefs Kingdom with his tough running, infectious smile and slick dance moves — led Kansas City in rushing each of his first two seasons, both of which culminated in Super Bowl titles.
He was the only Chiefs player with more than 32 yards rushing in the first two games (135) before suffering a broken ankle late in a Week 2 win against Cincinnati.
Pacheco had surgery Wednesday to repair the injury, leaving a massive void in Kansas City’s backfield that had to be filled by committee in Week 3 at Atlanta.
Undrafted rookie Carson Steele, who had nine carries for 27 yards in the season’s first two games, got the start and split carries with veteran Samaje Perine in the first half.
“Both those guys have practiced hard,” Mahomes said. “We’ve got a lot of trust there.”
Steele had six carries for 26 yards and Perine had six carries for 25 yards.
During the second half, Steele, a rookie from Ball State via UCLA, became the feature back as Kansas City hammered away at Atlanta.
Steele had nine carries for 38 yards on the Chiefs’ first two drives, which netted a go-ahead field goal and a lead-extending touchdown.
He started the next drive with a 6-yard gain then briefly left after landing awkwardly on the football.
After catching his breath and returning to the game, Steele finished with 17 carries for 72 yards and a 2-yard catch — good numbers for a Chiefs running back.
“Not bad for your rookie debut,” Reid said of Steele.
But it wasn't exactly shocking to Steele's teammates.
“Super proud of Carson," Rice said. "He's been balling out — showing it in practice every day, showing up to work hard."
Perine had three catches for 15 yards and didn’t have a carry in the second half.
“Obviously, you lose some of that juice that Isiah has,” Mahomes said. “There’s not a lot of people who are that fired up after every run and can run like that, but I thought the guys did a great job.”
WANYA FOR KINGSLEY WORKS OUT: Wanya Morris, then a rookie third-round pick from Oklahoma, started four games at left tackle with Donovan Smith sidelined last December.
He went into the offseason as the presumptive starter at left tackle after Kansas City didn’t re-sign Smith or add another veteran.
At the very least, Morris was expected to compete for the job, but that isn’t really how the Chiefs handled training camp.
Kansas City elevated Kingsley Suamataia, a rookie second-round pick from BYU, to the first team when the pads came on and never wavered.
He played one — and only one — series with the first-string offensive line in the preseason opener at Jacksonville and clearly was treated like the starter.
But Suamataia struggled with penalties and pass protection during his first two NFL starts, and Chiefs coach Andy Reid sat him down after a fourth-quarter sack against Cincinnati last week.
Morris filled in on the final drive and, despite a penalty of his own for illegal use of hands to the face, kept Mahomes upright en route to the game-winning field goal.
Reid promised to review the film and make a decision, which led Morris to get the nod versus the Falcons.
WAS TAYLOR SWIFT AT THE GAME?: If Taylor Swift was at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, no one got any video, which means she wasn’t there.
Couldn’t have been, right?
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Swift attended the first two games of the season and remains on hiatus from her Eras Tour until a series of three-night stops in Miami, New Orleans and Indianapolis beginning Oct. 18. She’ll then tour Canada from mid-November to early December.
Since her first appearance at a Chiefs game nearly a year ago, Kansas City is 12-3 when Swift, who has been dating Kelce for more than a year, is in attendance.
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
