KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Last year on the way to their third straight Super Bowl appearance, the Kansas City Chiefs didn’t lose a single one-score game. They went 11-0 in games decided by seven points or fewer.
This year, however, has been a different story. The Chiefs are 0-3 in one-score games with the latest defeat coming Monday night at Jacksonville when Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence fell down twice near the goal line then got back up and ran in the game-winning score.
Lawrence’s touchdown was aided by a pass interference penalty in the end zone that gave the Jaguars a first-and-goal. Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones’ effort on Lawrence’s touchdown run was minimal, but the Chiefs were also flagged for 13 penalties in the game, and Harrison Butker kicked the ball out of bounds, which gave the Jags the ball at the 40-yard line to start the drive. And those type of mistakes have cost the Chiefs dearly in a 2-3 start.
“We’ve got to take care of that,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “That’s something we’ve got to fix. It’s getting us right now and you can’t do that. So again, the best way to do it is go out and practice it and get yourself working on those things that have been causing problems for you.”
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 300 yards and two total touchdowns but threw a costly pick-6 at the goal line in the third quarter, and 100 yards later a 14-point swing gave Jacksonville the lead.
The Chiefs will have to avoid such mistakes if they want to avoid a 2-4 start Sunday when the Detroit Lions come to town.
“It’s execution,” Mahomes said. “We’re not making winning plays in certain moments. It goes back to the interception I threw in the red zone and that’s a 14-point swing. I feel like we’ve played better these last few weeks, but in this league it’s going to come down to one-score games.
“Right when we start training camp that’s what Coach Reid preaches every single year. And it’s about who executes at a high level, and we haven’t done that as a team throughout these first five weeks.”
After losing their first game of the season at Green Bay, the Lions have won four straight.
“This is a really good football team that we’re going to play,” Mahomes said. “And they play extremely hard, and they have the mentality that they’re going to come in here and win a football game. And we have to match that intensity, we have to match that mentality knowing that it’s going to take our best football — offense, defense and special teams — and we got to go out there and prove it on Sunday.”
