In a wild, back-and-forth affair on “Monday Night Football,” the Jacksonville Jaguars staged a double-digit comeback against the Kansas City Chiefs, prevailing 31-28 over the defending AFC champions. The Jaguars trailed 14-0 at one point in the game, and also trailed 28-24 with less than two minutes remaining before staging a last-minute touchdown drive to score the eventual game-winning touchdown.
Trevor Lawrence engineered that go-ahead drive, making a huge throw up the right sideline to Brian Thomas Jr. to convert a third-and-long and then rushing the ball into the end zone from 1 yard out. On that touchdown, which was Lawrence’s second rushing score of the game, Lawrence tripped coming out of the snap exchange and was nearly sacked for a five-yard loss. Instead, he got to his feet and scampered around the edge and into the end zone.
Lawrence had quite an eventful night, rushing for two scores and throwing a third to overcome two fairly significant mistakes. With the Jaguars trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, Lawrence attempted to jump over the line for a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line, but the ball was knocked out of his hands for a fumble by Nick Bolton before he could cross the plane. The Chiefs then drove 97 yards to take a two-score lead.
That’s when the Jaguars started their comeback. They embarked on a 13-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Lawrence finding Parker Washington in the front of the end zone for a score, and they eventually entered halftime trailing by only seven points. On their first drive after the break, the Jags again marched right down the field, going 87 yards on seven plays, ending with Lawrence scrambling up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown jaunt.
With the game tied late in the third quarter, the Chiefs were driving with a chance to take the lead. That’s when the defense, which has been a turnover-forcing machine all season, stepped up: Devin Lloyd picked off Patrick Mahomes just shy of the goal line and took the interception 99 yards to the house to give Jacksonville its first lead of the game.
After a Chiefs punt, though, Lawrence made his second mistake of the night when he threw a pick deep in his own territory. The Chiefs quickly capitalized by scoring a touchdown on just two plays, and suddenly the game was tied once again.
A LeQuint Allen kickoff return for 38 yards set the Jags up with excellent field position for their next drive, which only needed to travel 25 yards to set up a Cam Little field goal from 52 yards out. The Chiefs then matriculated the ball down the field with a 12-play, 86-yard drive that ended with a Kareem Hunt touchdown to take the lead, but all that did was set the stage for Lawrence’s late-game heroics.
With the win, the Jaguars improved to 4-1 on the young season, keeping pace with the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South. Meanwhile, the Chiefs dropped back down to 2-3 and moved further back in the AFC West race.
