A “goofy” late touchdown from quarterback Trevor Lawrence inflicted the latest painful blow to the Kansas City Chiefs as the Jacksonville Jaguars won a 31-28 thriller on Monday Night Football.
With just 30 seconds on the clock, Lawrence looked to have blundered when he stumbled to the ground not once, but twice, following the snap, but the 26-year-old recovered superbly to find his feet and barrel into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown to send EverBank Stadium into wild celebrations.
Lawrence – who had already run in another score in the third quarter and threw 18-of-25 for 221 yards and a touchdown on the night – described the play as “crazy.” His head coach, Liam Coen, offered up a different adjective.
“It’s a goofy finish,” said Coen, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator who has powered the Jags to a 4-1 record for the first time since 2007 in his first NFL head coaching job.
“But what a tough moment for him to be able to say he wasn’t going to lose and that’s kind of really what it comes down to.
“He wasn’t going to lose, and he made an unbelievable individual effort that hopefully can continue to springboard us.”
Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes did it all on the evening, throwing 29-of-41 for 318 yards and a touchdown and adding team-high 60 yards and another score on the ground, but couldn’t connect with an ambitious Hail Mary in the game’s final play to prevent his team from sliding to 2-3 on the year.
After a 27-21 defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil and a 20-17 loss at home against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, all three losses for Kansas City this season have been decided by a single score.
It marks a dramatic role reversal from last campaign, when the Chiefs and head coach Andy Reid relished their reputation as the crunch-time kings to win 11 one-score games in their pursuit of a historic three-peat.
“We have the guys and we’ve executed at certain points in games and looked really good, but we crush ourselves with penalties and mistakes,” said Mahomes.
“We’ve done that to ourselves all season long. It’s 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.”
It had all looked to be going smoothly for Mahomes when, having already connected with Travis Kelce to open the scoring, he rushed home early in the second quarter to help lift the Chiefs to a 14-0 lead.
Yet after a shaky start to the season, Lawrence responded to the Chiefs star emphatically, connecting with Parker Washington on a three-yard TD toss and a rushing touchdown of his own to even the contest in the third.
Disaster then struck for Mahomes as his touchdown pass intended for JuJu Smith-Schuster was gratefully snatched by Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd, who juked past the flailing Chiefs quarterback en route to a stunning 99-yard interception return that fired the home team ahead for the first time, 21-14.
The Chiefs quickly hit back with running back Kareem Hunt dashing in from five yards early in the fourth to tie the game up again.
A Jags field goal put the hosts back up with 8:13 left in the game, but Mahomes and the Chiefs marched back down the field, capping off an 86-yard drive with another Hunt rush into the end zone to put Kansas City up four with less than two minutes remaining in the contest.
Yet Lawrence rallied the troops to lead the Jaguars on the 60-yard winning drive, including a deep 33-yard pass to Brian Thomas Jr., before embarking on his wobbly journey into the end zone.
“I mean, I just panicked, honestly,” Lawrence said of the game-winning play.
“I was trying to get up to get the ball out of my hands. We didn’t have any timeouts left, so I was really going to just stand up and launch it out the back of the end zone.”
After scrambling for just two touchdowns across his first four seasons in the NFL, according to ESPN, the 2021 first overall pick matched that haul in just 60 minutes on Monday.
“That’s something I’ve realized just the first couple weeks. I think I’ve had some opportunities to be able to extend plays using my legs,” Lawrence, who ran for a team-high 54 yards on 10 carries, said.
“That’s our greatest asset on third down besides guys getting open in coverage. The defensive schemes are really good, and sometimes they cover all the guys, and our O-line has been blocking really well, so being able to escape, use my legs, make the defense defend the whole field … made a big impact for us tonight.”
Next up for both teams in Week 6, the Jaguars are at home again against the Seattle Seahawks (3-2) on Sunday before the Chiefs host the rampant Detroit Lions (4-1) later in the day.
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