The primary reason the Chiefs lost to the Jaguars, according to players & coach
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Penalties dominated: Chiefs incurred 13 flags for 109 yards, costing field position.
- Penalty gap tilted outcome: Jaguars had 4 flags for 25 yards, preserving drives.
- Coaching and players flagged discipline as fixable; they must reduce infractions.
There were countless reasons the Chiefs lost to the Jaguars, but inside the locker room and later at the podium, one theme kept surfacing no matter who was talking.
Penalties.
By the end of their 31-28 defeat Monday night in Jacksonville, the Chiefs had racked up 13 penalties for 109 yards — their most since Super Bowl LV against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. By contrast, Jacksonville was flagged just four times for 25 yards.
After congratulating the Jaguars in his opening remarks, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid immediately pointed to the disparity.
“Whether I agree with them or don’t agree with them, it doesn’t matter,” Reid said. “(The officials) 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.”
At halftime, Kansas City led 14-7 with three penalties for 33 yards. An illegal formation halted the team’s initial drive, but the Chiefs overcame Hollywood Brown’s unnecessary roughness flag on the next to score a touchdown.
The problem transitioned to a crisis in the second half, as Kansas City committed 10 more.
Four of those 10 second-half penalties came on special teams, including perhaps the costliest of the night: a kickoff out of bounds by Harrison Butker that saw the Jaguars start their game-winning drive at the 40-yard line.
Typically reliable special-teamer Jack Cochrane was twice called for holding on kickoffs, erasing 63- and 34-yard returns by rookie Brashard Smith.
“There wasn’t a common denominator, other than a couple guys got called twice,” Reid said. “We’ve got to just fix the problems with it.”
Cornerback Jaylen Watson was called for a defensive infraction on each of the Jaguars’ first two touchdown drives. Left guard Kingsley Suamataia’s holding penalty stalled a promising drive at the end of the third quarter. Asked about the numerous flags, quarterback Patrick Mahomes portrayed it as a microcosm of Kansas City’s 2-3 season to date.
“I feel like we have the guys, and we’ve executed at certain points of games and looked really good,” Mahomes said. “Then we crush ourselves with penalties and mistakes and interceptions and fumbles or whatever that is.
“We’ve kind of done that to ourselves all year long. It’s kind of been one guy here or there. In this league, it’s so close that those change games. We’ve got to be better.”
Recalling Reid’s post-game message to the team, linebacker Leo Chenal began his own critique of the loss with the night’s prevailing theme.
“Too many penalties,” he said. “Shooting ourselves in the foot doesn’t help. On that end, we need to be a lot better, whatever the number was — 13 to 4 — and not to get our heads down.
“We’ve got a whole season ahead of us. We’ve got a really good team coming in (Detroit Lions next weekend), so we obviously have to learn from the plenty of mistakes we had today and move on.”
Despite the lopsided penalty count Monday night, the Chiefs still found themselves in prime position to win late in the game. Reid knows that likely won’t be the case against the Lions, who come to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in six short days for a matchup on “Sunday Night Football.”
Speaking about what he called “sloppiness,” defensive lineman Chris Jones tried to find the positive — that he believes the penalties issue is something that can be corrected quickly.
“It can be solved,” Jones said. “I think Derrick Nnadi had a penalty. Holding.”
He did, on the drive that led to Jacksonville’s fourth-quarter field goal.
“That’s something (where) we get our hand placement right,” Jones said. “Little things like that. Eyes, discipline, fundamentals. I think we harp on that.
“I think those guys are going to take it to heart and face it.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
