Andy Reid’s been here before. Since he took over back in 2013, the Kansas City Chiefs have seldom lost games where they completely outgained their opponent in yards. We’re talking 23-1 in those situations. That’s dominance. Unfortunately, Monday Night against the Jacksonville Jaguars flipped that record to 23-2.
Kansas City piled up 157 more yards than Jacksonville (476 to 319). On paper, that’s a game they should win in their sleep. Instead, it turned into a 31-28 gut punch. The reasons? Take your pick. Costly turnovers, that brutal 99-yard pick-six, and the late pass interference flag that set the Jags up on the doorstep.
Doesn’t matter which one you circle; it all led to the same ending: Third loss of the season and a really quiet locker room afterwards.
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“It all led to a numb Chiefs locker room afterward, with a white Turtlebox speaker sitting in the middle of the room, powered on but with no happy songs playing,” The Athletic reports.
The loss stings, no doubt. And of course, the silence of the locker room was tangible. After all, the Chiefs had the game in their pocket at one point. But it was a second-and-goal from the 3 in the third quarter, and Patrick Mahomes tossed an interception to the Jaguars’ linebacker, Devin Lloyd, who tricked the Chiefs’ quarterback by faking a blitz, but eventually dropped back into coverage.
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Then it was all about Lloyd’s athleticism. The LB returned the pick 99 yards for a touchdown. Of course, it was in the third quarter, no doubt. But the moment Mahomes threw that pick-six, it shifted the Jaguars’ odds of winning from 28 percent to 70 percent. From there, Trevor Lawrence and Co. had a job to do, and they sure did. Late in the fourth quarter, the Jaguars were trailing 28-24.
But thanks to defensive pass interference and Lawrence’s chaotic touchdown with just 23 seconds remaining, the Jaguars walked out with their third straight win of the season.
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Patrick Mahomes and Co. have lost too many games already
The Chiefs let a 14-0 lead slip away with a string of costly mistakes against the Jaguars. They had 13 penalties for 109 yards, which was their highest since the 2019 season. Right after all that went down, you could bet Patrick Mahomes didn’t have any words of wisdom.
“Obviously, it sucks,” the quarterback said, per ESPN. “You let a game slip away. It still sucks whenever you get a lead and you’re not able to hold it…We have the guys and we’ve executed at certain points in games and looked really good, but we crush ourselves with penalties and mistakes. We’ve done that to ourselves all season long. It’s been one guy here or there. In this league, it’s so close that those [moments] change games. We’ve got to be better. We’ve lost too many games already.”
Indeed. The Chiefs put up almost 500 total yards. Mahomes completed 29-of-41 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown. But when it came down to crunch time, it was the Jaguars who delivered the knockout punch.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs’ safety Bryan Cook picked off Lawrence in the end zone. For a split second, it felt like the Chiefs had slammed the door shut. But nope. Yellow flag on the turf. Chamarri Conner got hit with defensive pass interference, and suddenly the Jaguars weren’t walking off the field. They were sitting on the Chiefs’ one-yard line.
That penalty was the football equivalent of leaving the back door wide open. One play later, Lawrence stumbled on the snap, almost faceplanted, then somehow scrambled and lunged across the goal line. It wasn’t pretty, sure. But at the end of the day, it counted. The Jaguars went up 31-28 with 23 seconds left. It felt chaotic.
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