ATLANTA — In most cases, when a team hasn’t played well in any of its games, when its quarterback isn’t at his best, when the team allows two red zone drives in the final five minutes, that team is fighting for a losing record.
Then there are the Kansas City Chiefs, who are suffering through all of that… and are still 3-0, one of five remaining undefeated teams in the league.
The two-time world champions played well enough to win on Sunday night, beating the Atlanta Falcons 22-17 in a game that was in doubt until the final 56 seconds. Without their star running back and facing a Falcons team that alternated between lethal and self-destructive, Kansas City leaned on its experience to escape Atlanta with a victory that would have eluded most teams.
“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of things to work on,” head coach Andy Reid said after the game, without elaborating.
Reid praised the work of his defense, which forced Atlanta to turn the ball over twice on downs inside the Chiefs’ 13-yard line and in the final minutes of the game. But he didn’t mention Kansas City’s struggles, such as continued difficulties getting the ball to Travis Kelce, or mistakes like a three-and-out late in the quarter with the game on the line. Reid surely noticed them, but he’s not willing to reveal KC’s weaknesses in a public forum.
Patrick Mahomes, on the other hand, doesn’t hold back.
“We haven’t played well, really, in all three games,” he said after Sunday night’s game. “We’ve been able to win, (and) that speaks to the character of the team, the determination, how we’ve been in these situations before. But I will speak, especially on offense and myself, I feel like I haven’t played very well.”
Mahomes finished with 217 yards on 26-of-39 attempts, with two touchdowns and one interception. He had no trouble moving the ball in short chunks; Kansas City doubled Atlanta in time of possession for most of the game and finished with a nearly 10-minute lead, 34:57 to 25:03.
But Mahomes struggled to make long passes. His longest pass was a 27-yarder to Rashee Rice. He threw an ugly interception in the end zone to Perennial nemesis Justin Simmons talks about Kansas City’s first seriesThe Chiefs leaned on Harrison Butker’s toe, kicking three field goals on four possessions in the second and third quarters. Mahomes had no trouble finding the open man, but his play was very un-Mahomes-like.
You know the “vibes” aren’t reflected on the scoreboard, or even in the advanced metrics, but you know something isn’t right.
“It’s not a stats thing,” Mahomes said of his frustrations. “I just feel like I’m missing opportunities every time they’re there and I’m not throwing the ball to the exact spot where I want it to be.”
“He’s the best quarterback I’ve ever played with,” Rice said. “So, you know, every time he feels like he hasn’t had a great game, I feel the same way.” (For the record, Rice led all receivers with 12 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.)
The defense held up its end of the bargain, stopping the Falcons on one drive after another. Linebacker Nick Bolton was the one who stopped the game, catching Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson in the backfield on fourth-and-1 with less than a minute remaining to end the Falcons’ last hopes. Afterward, he gave all the credit to the Chiefs’ weekly preparation.
“Two minutes, four minutes, whatever we have, go out there and execute,” Bolton said. “Just trust in the work.”
The Chiefs have won three games by a total of 13 points. But the key in that sentence isn’t “13,” it’s “won.” The NFL right now is in chaos. Teams projected to be Super Bowl contenders are 1-2. Teams projected to struggle are undefeated. But the Chiefs and Mahomes remain the constant, the standard, the goal.
The Chiefs have two of the most unpredictable teams of 2024 — the Chargers (2-1) and Saints (2-1) — on the docket heading into their bye week, and then comes a Super Bowl rematch with San Francisco. Playing the way they’ve been doing so far could cost them all three games, or it could win them all three games … but they probably won’t get any blowouts anytime soon with this kind of “good enough is good enough” play.
“Luckily for me, I’m not playing my best football and we’re still getting wins,” Mahomes said. “I have to get better to improve the offense.”
The fact that Kansas City, by its own admission, is struggling (and still winning) should be a huge warning sign for the rest of the league. If the Chiefs can get through this slump and still win games, well, a three-peat might be the least of the league’s problems for Kansas City.