Patrick Mahomes suffered his worst performance of the season, and the Kansas City Chiefs saw their three-game winning streak end in a 28-21 road loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Mahomes, the Chiefs’ three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback and two-time league MVP, failed to record a passing or rushing touchdown for the first time since Oct. 7, 2024. He finished 15-of-34 passing for 250 yards and one crucial interception. He was also sacked three times. His 57.2 QB rating was his lowest since Oct. 20, 2024, when he also failed to record a passing touchdown in a road win at the San Francisco 49ers.
After pulling within 28-21 on a 2-yard touchdown run by Kareem Hunt and a successful 2-point conversion on a pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce with 11:32 remaining, the Chiefs forced the Bills to punt with 6:46 remaining. But on third-and-11, Mahomes launched a deep ball that was intercepted by defensive back Maxwell Hairston with 4:27 to go.
The Chiefs had one more shot at tying the score after Bills kicker Matt Prater missed a 52-yard field goal off the left upright with 22 seconds remaining. Kansas City received the ball needing to go 58 yards for a touchdown. Mahomes’ final two passes, however, fell incomplete, and the Chiefs fell to 5-4.
Exposing a flaw
Kansas City’s defense came into the game ranked 26th in expected points allowed per run play, but that hadn’t been exposed as much lately, with the Chiefs taking commanding leads and forcing opponents into must-throw positions.
The Bills never dug that hole for themselves.
While keeping a positive game script, the Bills were more physical than the Chiefs and won the line of scrimmage. Running back James Cook went over 100 yards, and establishing the running game helped Bills quarterback Josh Allen gash the Chiefs defense on another of its weak points this season: play action.
Allen was efficient and accurate against the Chiefs, completing 23 of 26 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown. This also continues a trend: Even though the Chiefs have had success beating Allen in the playoffs, they still haven’t done much in 10 matchups against him to figure out how to slow him down. — Jesse Newell, Chiefs beat writer
More travels ahead?
Though the Chiefs have played excellently over the past month, their 5-4 record could make a future playoff path difficult.
Kansas City already trailed the Denver Broncos in the AFC West coming into the week, and it now finds itself two games back. The Chiefs have a much tougher schedule ahead than the Bills (6-2), so even catching them in the AFC standings without the head-to-head tiebreaker might be a long shot.
The bottom line: Kansas City might be the NFL’s best team (sportsbooks think so at this point), but four early losses mean a potential path back to the Super Bowl is looking more likely to be a road that mostly doesn’t go through Arrowhead Stadium. — Newell
Needing a bye
The Chiefs entered last week as one of the NFL’s healthiest rosters. Now, they’re probably thrilled to get next week off.
Kansas City had injuries pile up late against Buffalo, and that was especially true at offensive line, where for a few snaps the Chiefs had three backups in at the same time.
This upcoming break could be beneficial for healing. Right tackle Jawaan Taylor (ankle) should have a good chance to return unless the team announces a more severe injury, and left tackle Josh Simmons (personal) also could return after the bye week. — Newell
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