Patrick Mahomes has played in the AFC championship in every season since becoming the Chiefs starting quarterback in 2018 but that streak is now in serious jeopardy of coming to an end after Sunday's 22-19 loss to the Broncos, as Kansas City has a real battle on its hands to just make the playoffs this season.
The Chiefs, who have been to the Super Bowl three straight years and five out of the last six seasons, are 5-5 after Sunday's loss in Denver. Up next is a home game against the red-hot 8-2 Colts this coming Sunday, which is looking more and more like a must-win game for Kansas City.
After Sunday's loss Mahomes put the blame on one player for their inability to pull out what would have been a huge win over the Broncos—himself.
"I think we're really talented and we've got a lot of great players, but it's about being more consistent. I think it starts with me," he said in his postgame press conference. "There's times where I'm firing and we're moving the ball down the field at ease. But there's times where we go in spurts where I miss a throw or a [pass] protection call.
"We haven't been consistent enough to win games. It starts with me."
Mahomes completed 29-of-45 passes for 276 yards with one touchdown and an interception against the Broncos. Two missed passes on the Chiefs' opening drive of the game stuck with him after the game. First he missed Xavier Worthy on a deep ball that could have ended up being an easy touchdown. Then he couldn't connect with Tyquan Thornton on a long pass on third-and-10.
"I've just got to make the throw," Mahomes said. "There's no other way around it. The play was designed for Travis [Kelce]—and I think Travis is wide open—but you have these alerts in your plays and how [the Broncos safety] was sitting with Xavier's speed, I knew he was going to have a chance down the field. I've just got to give him a chance. I missed that one."
Here's Mahomes' talking after Sunday's game.
The Chiefs now face a difficult path to the playoffs. The last three teams currently in are the Bills (7-3), Chargers (7-4), and Jaguars (6-4). The Chiefs have lost to all three of those teams this year, so tiebreakers will pose another challenge. Kansas City will get another shot at the Chargers next month.
Mahomes is used to rolling through the AFC and having the conference title game at Arrowhead. Now he's facing a whole different path and it will be interesting to see how he and the rest of the team handles it.
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Patrick Mahomes Blamed One Player for Chiefs' Devastating Loss to Broncos .
