The Chiefs won 17 straight one-score games over the course of two seasons, often relying on dramatic last-minute heroics to achieve wins. ...
From the beginning of the 2023 season until the AFC championship game in January of last year, the Kansas City Chiefs were the best at one thing: winning games by a single touchdown.
Between those dates, the Chiefs won 17 straight games that were close. During the regular season last year, Kansas City won all eleven games that were decided by eight points or less. They often didn't pull out the win until the last minute of the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs usually play great when things get tough, which made Monday's 31-28 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars even worse. With the loss, Kansas City's record dropped to 2-3. Interestingly, after being so good earlier in the season, it is now 0-3 in games decided by one score this season.
QB Patrick Mahomes said after the game, "We have the guys, and we've played really well at times and looked great, but we kill ourselves with penalties and mistakes." "That's what we've been doing all season."
"We need to be better," he said. We've already lost too many games.
Sometimes, Mahomes is the reason why the Chiefs are so tough to beat in big games. He led seven game-winning runs just last season. On Monday, Mahomes led drives that tied the game and won it in the fourth quarter. However, he also made one of the most important mistakes of the night: a pick-six from inside the five-yard line that gave the Jaguars a 21-14 lead late in the third quarter. He made a great play by picking the ball, and it was a great call by the defence, Mahomes said. I need to find a way to hit him or slow him down after the catch.
The quarterback wasn't the only one who made mistakes.
Kansas City had a huge 13 fouls that cost them 109 yards as a team, while Jacksonville only had four flags.
The defence had some well-known flaws as well. He made a great play by picking the ball, and it was a great call by the defence, Mahomes said. I need to find a way to hit him or slow him down after the catch.
The quarterback wasn't the only one who made mistakes.
Kansas City had a huge 13 fouls that cost them 109 yards as a team, while Jacksonville only had four flags.
The defence had some well-known flaws as well. Three Chiefs players let a bad pass from Trevor Lawrence get through their hands on the same play in the second quarter. The pass should have been picked off.
And on the last play of the fourth quarter, which decided the game, Lawrence fell down twice in the backfield but was able to get back up and scramble for a score even though there were several Kansas City defenders nearby. (A touchdown made possible by a foul for pass interference on third-and-13 the previous play.) "We need to finish that play," Chris Jones, a defensive tackle for the Chiefs, said of the Lawrence run. "He was lucky to be able to break that many tackles on that play." As a defence, I put it on us. We need to end. We need to put him down right now.
Some people thought that the Chiefs' 15-2 record last season didn't really show how beatable they were, and their current winless run in one-score games is proof of that. Kansas City had the 11th best point difference in the NFL in 2024, with 59. They were tied with the Detroit Lions for the most wins.
The Chiefs are getting what they deserve this year. With a plus-18 point difference, Kansas City is 12th in the league. That's better than four teams that have only lost one game so far this season. As a whole, the Chiefs' three losses have been by a mere 12 points. In the end, Kansas City will probably even things out and start winning close games again, just like its two-season streak of winning all one-score games didn't last. The offence took at least another step forward on Monday. They have scored 65 points in the last two games, up from only 63 points in the first three.
The Chiefs mostly controlled the play, which is another reason why the Jaguars felt so badly about their mistakes and errors. In comparison to Jacksonville, they got more first downs, more overall yards, more yards per play, and fewer turnovers. Head coach Andy Reid said, "These losses and wins hurt, but there's good and bad in both." "Things you can use to learn and move on." We need to make sure we do that, but we also need to be stricter about the penalties. After that, I need to look at them and decide what to do next.
DEVIN LLOYD PICK-6!
— NFL (@NFL) October 7, 2025
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