After another close defeat, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes cut through any noise and put the skid on himself and the offense. Speaking to Sports Illustrated about why the Chiefs have now dropped multiple tight games they used to finish, he said it comes down to execution in key moments.
“Just not making the plays, not making the throws at the right time,” Mahomes explained. He pointed to one missed opportunity in particular, noting he had Marquise “Hollywood” Brown early on a route that could have jump-started a drive and flipped momentum.
For Mahomes, the fix is going back to basics: staying true to his progressions, trusting the offensive line to hold up, and giving his receivers chances down the field to change games with one play.
Mahomes’ comments signal he knows that, for all the outside chatter about coaching or roster moves, Kansas City’s stars will ultimately be judged on whether they hit those throws and catches when it matters.
He has already conceded the road back to an AFC West title is steep after falling to 5-5 with a 22-19 loss in Denver, telling SI it will be “hard to get back in the division race” and shifting the focus to simply getting into the playoffs and trying to make a run.
Mahomes went 29-of-45 for 276 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in that game, briefly putting the Chiefs ahead with a strike to Travis Kelce before a blocked extra point and two Wil Lutz field goals flipped the result.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill may be in Miami now, but his eye is still on Kansas City. During the Chiefs’ Week 11 loss to the Denver Broncos, Hill jumped on X, formerly Twitter, to praise his former quarterback, saying Patrick Mahomes was “feeling good slinging the rock” and that he loved seeing KC take shots downfield.
Former Chiefs wideout Gehrig Dieter immediately chimed in that Hill was “trying to come back to KC,” a half-joking reminder that, even after leaving in 2022, Hill keeps showing public love for Mahomes and the franchise while they grind through a 5-5 start.
The bigger concern is how often those minor mistakes are accumulating. This isn’t a Chiefs team getting blown out; it is one repeatedly letting winnable games slip. Drops, protection issues, and timing miscues have turned what used to be automatic fourth quarters into coin flips.
As he put it, Kansas City is “at that point where we got to find a way just to win football games,” one tight margin at a time.
