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The Kansas City Chiefs wasted a chance to go to the Super Bowl by losing 27-24 in overtime against the Cincinnati Bengals after leading by 18 points.
The Chiefs suffered a devastating loss, and there are a number of issues that need to be addressed as to why they lost this game.
Let's look at four key takeaways from the Kansas City Chiefs' surprising defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Chiefs-Bengals Takeaways
4. Patrick Mahomes played the worst half of football in his career during the second-half
Patrick Mahomes is widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL currently, and all time. He is a phenomenal athlete with minimal flaws in his game. He can do anything on the field, and throughout the first half, he was doing just that. He scored three touchdowns in the first half of this game on Sunday, but he couldn't reach the end zone in the second half as he looked terrible in everything he did.
On third down in the Red Zone, Patrick Mahomes scrambled all the way back around 20 yards and took a massive loss to put his team in field goal position from 44 yards out, which was maybe the biggest play of the season for the Chiefs. The Chiefs were still able to kick a field goal in the end, but he made it much more difficult for them by not using his head throughout this play.
It was almost as if Patrick Mahomes walked out of the locker room at halftime and didn't have the same level of intensity that he has had for most of his career. In the third quarter, Mahomes emerged from the locker room and proceeded to play as if the game was already finished. Every single person on the planet thought the Bengals had no chance in this game since the Chiefs dominated them on all sides of the football field. There's a decent possibility the Chiefs would be headed to the Super Bowl if Patrick Mahomes could simply perform the bare minimum against this Bengals club in the second half.
3. Team came out flat in the second half
In the second half, not only did Patrick Mahomes play poorly, but the defense also failed to do its job. It's difficult to place blame for this game since everyone on both sides of the ball did not do enough in the second half to get the job done. The truth of the matter is that if you're only going to give up 27 points to the Bengals' high-powered offense, you've got to find a way to win.
Unfortunately for Kansas City, they were defeated after giving up 14 points in the second half and a field goal in overtime.
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It seems as if this whole Kansas City Chiefs team just came out of the locker room and expected them to roll over and give them the win.
2. Offensive line is still below average
The reason that the Chiefs lost the Super Bowl a season at go is that their offensive line was the worst that it could potentially play. Their offensive line once again this season was below average and that came back to hurt them in the biggest moments of their season.
Although Patrick Mahomes played horrible football for the second half, plenty of that has to be contributed to the fact that the offensive line just could not hold anybody back on the Bengals defensive line. It seemed as if every other play Patrick Mahomes had to make something crazy happen because he was just scrambling all over the place.
A quarterback is only as good as his offensive line, and when the pressure mounted in the second half, the Chiefs' offensive line failed to protect their star quarterback, resulting in a loss.
1. A lot of work to do in the offseason
Despite having perhaps the best quarterback in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs will need to work on a few crucial areas this offseason.
This is the second year in a row that Kansas City has failed to win a Super Bowl, and although it's difficult to single out Patrick Mahomes, he certainly did not deliver on Sunday. To maintain their status as one of the top teams in football, the Chiefs will need to make some changes, particularly on the offensive and defensive lines.
If they can simply surround Patrick Mahomes with the right offensive line, they'll have a fairly invincible team because, as we've seen, he can make things happen for himself while he's running about aimlessly. He could possibly be the best quarterback this game has ever seen if he had an offensive line to hold players and keep them from pressuring him on every other play.
