The Kansas City Chiefs’ season came to a sudden end in the 2022 AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals, as they blew a 21-3 lead en route to an overtime defeat.

Even as there was much doubt as to whether veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu would feature in the clash with the Bengals, he earned the green light to play in the game after suffering no setbacks in the concussion protocol in the days leading up to the contest. Overall, he notched five total tackles in the game.

In speaking during his post-game press conference, Mathieu kept it simple on his reaction to the defeat and how the rest of the team is now feeling.

“Deflated,” Mathieu said.

In the big picture, Mathieu is not looking back on this season with plenty of gloom. He at the least is appreciative of how the Chiefs battled throughout the campaign, which included a 12-5 finish in the regular season after an early 3-4 start in the season.

“It's been a blessing,” Mathieu said. “I have been in this league nine years. Not all the time do you get a chance to play for championships and play for Super Bowls, to hang banners, to make the city proud. Obviously, we fell short today, but it's a lot of good to look back on. We won a lot of football games.

“I'm proud of the way we continued to fight throughout the season.”

As Mathieu touched on, the Chiefs once again had a standout regular season, which included an eight-game winning streak and yet another AFC West division win.

A notable offseason now awaits the Chiefs.