The Kansas City Chiefs have lived through plenty of Patrick Mahomes magic over the years. Sunday night in the cold at Arrowhead, they had to live through one of his roughest outings instead.
Videos by FanBuzz
Photo credit: Getty Images
Kansas City's 20-10 loss to Houston wasn't all on the quarterback (far from it), but Mahomes wore the disappointment afterward, acknowledging that the offense never found its footing and that he played a major role in that.
"We battled," a dejected Mahomes said, via Sports Illustrated. "Offensively especially, we didn't play the way we were supposed to play. I'm proud of how the defense fought with all the disadvantages we put them in. They kept giving us chances.
"Offensively, I've got to be better — not turning the football over, getting us into the right plays, giving guys chances down the field. It starts with me, and it feeds throughout the whole team."
Mahomes threw three interceptions and narrowly avoided a fourth. He also endured a career-worst stretch of 10 straight incompletions, a sequence that included two picks, a pair of failed fourth-down throws, and several brutal drops from his normally dependable targets.
By the time he finally completed a pass again, the game was slipping away.
He finished 14-of-33 for 160 yards with no touchdowns — the lowest completion percentage of his career at 42.4 percent and his most frustrating performance in years.
And yet, somehow, the Chiefs were still in it entering the fourth quarter. They opened the second half with an eight-play, 56-yard touchdown drive to pull within 10-7, then followed it with a smart march to set up Harrison Butker's tying field goal.
That's where the momentum stopped.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Mahomes took a shot down the left sideline to Hollywood Brown. The ball hung, Brown couldn't adjust, and Kamari Lassiter made the interception that flipped the game.
"They got a good rush, and I didn't throw it far enough," Mahomes said. "I wish I would've thrown it more inside and given Hollywood a chance to high-point it, but he made a good play. I'll be better with where I locate the football."
Kansas City now sits in a spot almost unrecognizable during the Mahomes era: searching for answers after a quarterback performance that simply wasn't good enough.
