With the Kansas City Chiefs finding themselves in a rut late in the season, Patrick Mahomes has spoken on the offense’s struggles in recent games. The epitome of their inconsistency came in an upset loss to divisional rivals, the Las Vegas Raiders, on Christmas Day. In what was their worst defeat of the season, the Raiders held the Chiefs down to 14 points while scoring 20 of their own.
Mahomes completed 27 of 44 throws for 235 yards and a single touchdown while getting intercepted once and sacked four times. As it has in previous games, the broadcast captured Mahomes’ visible frustration with the Chiefs losing five of their last eight outings. ‘I just don’t think I like losing,’ Mahomes told media members on Wednesday. ‘I think anybody can be frustrated when they lose. It’s just about how you respond.’
Given their star status, fans have been critical of Mahomes and teammates over their breakdowns. The frustrations boiled over to the sidelines on Monday when star tight end Travis Kelce was seen throwing his helmet towards the bench after speaking to coach Andy Reid.
‘I think people see frustration and they think it causes controversy,’ Mahomes said. ‘I see it as a way of showing that people care. ‘They care about their profession, they care about trying to do whatever they can to win games. ‘So when I see stuff like that happen — obviously, we want to be in a positive light and everything like that — but I see someone that cares about the game and someone that wants to be better. Not better for themselves, but better for the team.’
The Chiefs started the season with an impressive 6-1 record. However, after a loss to the Broncos late in October, Kansas City failed to regain their footing moving forward. The 3-5 skid that followed included notable losses against the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills. After losing to Buffalo, Mahomes was slammed for complaining to counterpart Josh Allen about the officiating postgame. Besides Mahomes and Kelce, teammates such as wide receiver Kadarius Toney, have been ripped for their work ethic – or lack thereof.
‘In order for offenses to work in this league, it takes everybody,’ Mahomes continued. ‘And it starts with me and then it kind of goes throughout everyone else, and everybody has to be on the same page. ‘This last week, we weren’t on the same page in some critical moments and that hurt us. But I believe in these guys, man.’
With the playoffs approaching, the reigning Super Bowl Champions have two games to end the regular season on a good note. Although the loss to Las Vegas locked them out of the AFC’s top spot, the Chiefs currently hold a 9-6 record and continue to lead the AFC West. Kansas City have games against the Bengals and Chargers left to play.
‘We have two games left to prove it,’ Mahomes added. ‘At the end of the day, we can talk about it all we want, we have two games left to show that this work we’re putting in every single week is going to pay off. ‘I know we’re not going to be the one-seed and everything like that, but we can still win the AFC West, we can get into the playoffs and once you get to the playoffs it’s open for everybody to go out there and win it.’
