The Kansas City Chiefs are 0-2 for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, falling Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles, 20-17.
That it was another loss to the Eagles, who convincingly beat them in Super Bowl LIX in February, was painful enough. That the turning-point play of the game came between Mahomes and Travis Kelce made it even tougher to swallow.
Down, 13-10, the Chiefs drove to the Philadelphia 6-yard line early in the fourth quarter. But on second-and-goal, Mahomes' pass glanced off Kelce's hands and into the arms of the Eagles' Andrew Mukuba, who ran it back 41 yards from the goal line. Mukuba might have gone all the way had Chiefs rookie left tackle Josh Simmons not made a TD-saving tackle.
It's a play Mahomes and Kelce have run a thousand times, but the quarterback said they were just a hair off.
"I threw it a tad too early," Mahomes told reporters after the game. "If I could put it on his body, he can catch it, take the hit and get into the end zone."
The Eagles would take the ball and score on their ensuing possession, with Jalen Hurts hitting his biggest pass of the game -- a 28-yarder to DeVonta Smith -- to set up the score to go up double figures. The Chiefs would score with three minutes left but were unable to get the ball back. The Eagles converted multiple tush-push runs, including on the game-sealing touchdown, to finish Kansas City off.
A proposal to ban the tush push did not pass at this year's Spring League meeting -- NFL teams voted 22-10 to ban the controversial play, but it required 24 votes to pass -- so the play remained legal for this season, despite some criticism from coaches.
It appeared on multiple occasions Sunday that Eagles offensive linemen moved before the snap on tush-push plays but were not called for false starts. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said after the game that he would review the plays in question from Sunday's loss.
"You try to get penetration is what you try to do," Reid said of the play. "Might have had a couple of them (where) they got off a little early on, but we'll look at that."
Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones, who appeared livid after the Eagles converted a tush-push first down with just over five minutes remaining in the game, said that the Chiefs can't use those plays as excuses for losing.
"You know, sometimes you can't get all the calls right," Jones said. "Just because we see it, sometimes the official is 15-20 feet away. Sometimes they can miss those small things.
"We think (Eagles offensive linemen) jumped multiple times. So the official didn't see it, we just gotta play the next down."
The last time the Chiefs started a season 0-2 was in 2014, during Reid's second year in Kansas City. The Chiefs finished that season at 9-7 and missed the playoffs.
It's also the way the Chiefs have lost the first two games that is notable. Entering this season, the Chiefs hadn't lost a one-possession game since Week 16 in 2023 against the Raiders. But that's two now straight one-possession losses to open the new campaign.
"I'll take full responsibility for that game," Reid said.
