The Kansas City Chiefs stumbled their way to a 31-28 loss in Jacksonville on Monday night, losing a 14-0 lead with a stinging concoction of mistakes, penalties and missed opportunities.
"Obviously, it sucks," Patrick Mahomes said. "You let a game slip away. ... It still sucks whenever you get a lead like that and you're not able to hold it through the rest of the game."
K.C. jumped out to a 14-0 lead after forcing a goal-line fumble by Trevor Lawrence and marching 97 yards for the touchdown. Then, things went awry.
Penalties piled up, the defense couldn’t slow Lawrence, and a 99-yard interception return touchdown by Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd turned the tide.
The Chiefs suffered their first loss after leading by 14 points or more since Week 17, 2021, at Cincinnati. They had won 22 straight games when leading by 14-plus points (second-longest active streak in the NFL behind Detroit -- 26).
K.C. spent last year eking out close win after close win. They won 11 one-score games in 2024, most in league history. In 2025, the regression to the mean has been brutal. All three of the Chiefs' losses have been by one score.
"We have the guys and we've executed at certain points in games and looked really good, and then we crush ourselves with penalties and mistakes and interceptions and fumbles or whatever that is," Mahomes said. "We've kinda done that to ourselves all season long. It's kinda 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."
Mahomes led a go-ahead touchdown drive, a grinding, 6:23 possession to take a late lead. It looked like many of the Chiefs' wins last year. This time, the defense couldn’t get the last stop, culminated by a wacky Lawrence stumble touchdown.
“That's what hurts a lot," linebacker Leo Chenal said of the defense's failures, via ESPN. "We've established that trust where the offense can lean on us in those [late-game] moments. It really hurts that we didn't hold up our end. Every single guy feels it."
From missed interceptions to Mahomes’ pick-six to the 13 penalties for 109 yards to not making a play on the final Jags drive, it was a forgettable night all around.
The flags were particularly problematic. The 13 penalties were tied for the most in a game in the Mahomes era (Week 11, 2018 shootout with the Los Angeles Rams). The end of the game was shaped by penalties. Harrison Butker kicked the ball out of bounds, giving the Jags excellent field position for their final drive. Then, corner Chamarri Conner was flagged for pass interference in the end zone, setting up Jacksonville’s game-winner.
“Whether I agree with them or don’t agree with them, it doesn’t matter,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said of the penalties. “They called them. And so you have that many penalties, you give up field position. You can out-stat them to death, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the score that matters, and we’ve got to take care of business there.”
Falling to 2-3, the Chiefs have a losing record through five games for just the second time in the Mahomes era. In 2021, they also started 2-3 before turning things around to go 12-5, losing in the AFC Championship Game to Cincinnati.