The Chiefs are 0-1 because they turned the world’s best quarterback into a spectator
There came a sequence at the close of the first half Thursday, and we’d all be talking about if not for the final result, in which Patrick Mahomes just plain took over. The running game was non-existent. A case of the drops had infected more than half the receivers room.
But who cares? The Chiefs still had the quarterback. And in this sequence, Mahomes turned third-and-17 into a dime for 34 yards and a first down, then followed a secondary read for 26 more, and then tossed a go-ahead touchdown.
He tried to do it all himself, and for awhile, it looked like he just might.
Until his coach took the ball out of his hands in the fourth quarter.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The Lions beat the Chiefs 21-20 in an NFL season opener in which so very little went right offensively for the defending champions other than Mahomes. We could chat for awhile about how many points the Chiefs lost on dropped passes alone.
But on a night in which Mahomes actually was going right, the Chiefs put the game in the hands of just about everyone else.
The kicker. The punter.
The defense.
Heck, even the third-string tight end.
I’ll tackle the sequence in order, because it’s demonstrative of how it unfolded, one decision after another that turned Mahomes into a spectator.
With 12:11 left in the game, the Chiefs led 17-14 and faced fourth-and-2 at the Lions’ 21-yard line. A six-point lead in the fourth quarter is typically not all that advantageous compared to a three-point lead. But out trotted kicker Harrison Butker. To the sideline walked Mahomes.
We’ll look back at the final offensive drive — in which the Chiefs dropped three passes, as if to kindly provide us a summation of the game in one snapshot — but when the final score is a one-point margin, wouldn’t you take back an opportunity to turn three points into seven?
You know what happened the next time the Chiefs had the ball. They’re apparently still trying to make the Blake Bell transition to quarterback a thing. The Chiefs were terrible at short yardage a year ago, 30th in the NFL on third- or fourth-and-1 conversion rate. Head coach Andy Reid said they made it a particular point of emphasis this offseason. Which I’m sure is true. But their third-and-1 call in the fourth quarter couldn’t have taken more than 30 seconds of innovation, and I’m using that term loosely here.
Now trailing by one, Bell lined up under center since the Chiefs still refuse to let Mahomes quarterback sneak, and you wouldn’t believe it, but they faked the sneak with Bell and asked him instead to hand the ball to rookie Rashee Rice. Oh, and Mahomes? He pretended to provide some communication to a teammate.
Much will be made of the execution. The offensive line got blown up. But the real point? With the Chiefs trailing for the first time in the half, they asked the world’s best quarterback to be the world’s best decoy.
Still, that was just third down. The Chiefs had an opportunity to get the thing rolling on fourth down. Except, well, they elected once more to punt the ball — while trailing by one, with just six minutes to go, and after the Lions had just taken a late-night stroll down the field for the lead. Frankly, the Chiefs were fortunate to get the ball back again.
When I asked Reid after the game if he considered leaving his offense on the field on either fourth-down attempt in the final quarter, he replied, “No, because we went backwards there,” referring to the previous play.
Right, the combination of Blake Bell and Rashee Rice went backwards. The player whom the Chiefs ought to be asking to make a fourth-down play stood stationary. That player, by the way, has made a living out of turning negative events into soon-to-be positives. He tends to bounce back.
Look, in case it gets lost in translation, Reid is the best coach going right now, and he was certainly dealt an unfortunate hand two days earlier when his top weapon hyperextended his knee. There is no one better when offered a long runway for preparation — whether it’s the opener or the back end of a bye — and that runway shrunk to 48 hours.
But Reid did not have his best day — rather, he did not have his best quarter — and it had nothing to do with Travis Kelce standing on the sideline in workout clothes.
It had everything to do with him offering Mahomes the same role as his star tight end during three separate and significant plays.
I’ll come back to a question that crosses my mind often when these types of decisions arise: What were the Lions hoping for in those three decisions?
I’ll answer it, too: For Mahomes to not be involved.
The Chiefs actually had some things go well Thursday — their offensive line looks as good in pass protection as perhaps Mahomes has ever had. Steve Spagnuolo figured out some ways to hurry a quarterback while his elite pass rusher sat in a club-level seat flanked by his two agents.
But they did the Lions a favor. Three favors, actually.
For five years now, this team has gone as far as Mahomes will take them, which if you’re paying attention, has been pretty far. And then they ignored the most basic of obligations: When the game is on the line, use him.
This story was originally published September 8, 2023 at 5:00 AM.