On a day when Patrick Mahomes became just the third player in NFL history to post multiple 5,000-yard passing seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback wasn’t exactly pleased with his performance.
Mahomes threw an interception in the red zone, missed open receivers and admittedly lost his mechanics. Yet the Chiefs managed to hold off the Broncos for a 27-24 win Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium — the team’s 15th straight victory against Denver.
“There’s not a lot satisfying for me,” Mahomes said. “But just the fact that we battled through. The team, the defense played their tail off. And we put them in a lot of bad situations, and they kept making stops, especially in that second half.
“I thought the O-line played well and I thought the receivers and tight ends played well. I just have to be better at putting the ball on them in good spots. I felt like I didn’t play at the top of my game today, but I thought guys around me stepped up.”
Among those were backup running back Jerick McKinnon, who caught two of Mahomes’ three touchdown passes. McKinnon became the third running back in the Super Bowl era to catch a touchdown pass in five straight games.
McKinnon finished with five catches for 52 yards and has eight receiving touchdowns this season.
“He just finds a way to get in the end zone,” Mahomes said of McKinnon. “A lot of those things he’s not the first read, he’s not the second read. But the fact that he’s able to be in the right spot at the right time whenever I need to make a checkdown, I can get it to him and then he makes the most out of them getting into the end zone.
“He just does his job. That’s the biggest thing, he does his job to the best of his ability. If that’s protecting, if that’s running a route, whatever it is, running the football. And those are the guys you need to win football games.”
The Chiefs (13-3) also got a boost from their defense as they sacked Russell Wilson four times and intercepted him once. The Chiefs needed every bit of that effort as their special teams faltered again. There was a dropped snap on a PAT, a blocked field goal and fumble on a punt return.
The Chiefs trailed 17-13 at the end of the third quarter, but Mahomes rallied the team in the fourth — throwing touchdowns to Blake Bell and McKinnon. Chiefs coach Andy Reid said while Mahomes may not have been at his very best, he doesn’t want to take away his aggressiveness.
“There’s some plays he’d definitely like to have back,” Reid said. “But that’s how picky we are. We start nitpicking these things, as he does. But that’s what great players do.”
Mahomes finished 29 of 42 for 328 yards — and kept Chiefs in contention of getting the No. 1 seed in the playoffs — even when things didn’t always look pretty.
“The coaches prepare us to play these games,” Mahomes said. “We know we’re going to get their best shot every single time, and they’ve prepared us to put us in situations when stuff’s not going good, you can find a way to make it a positive. And for us, we’ve done a great job when we haven’t been playing our best football. We’ve been able to respond and find a way to win them.”
