Five things that stood out in the Chiefs’ ugly Christmas Day loss to the Raiders
A helmet-less Isiah Pacheco walked to the Chiefs’ sideline training table after absorbing a knee to the head and took a seat. Well, he tried.
The table collapsed on him, and the player who sat on it because he was already injured fell to the ground along with it.
And it wasn’t the worst thing to unfold on the Chiefs’ sideline.
Or in the game.
The Raiders beat the Chiefs 20-14 in the ugliest game of the Patrick Mahomes Era.
The Chiefs’ defense was excellent. The Raiders went the final three quarters without a completion.
And the Raiders still won the game.
How’s that for Christmas Day at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium?
Here are five observations from immediately after the game:
1. The vibes are different
This observation isn’t strictly about the result.
It’s the reaction.
We once saw the very best from the Chiefs after their very worst.
On Monday? We saw them fall apart.
Travis Kelce is the latest to slam his helmet, an incident that seemed to irk head coach Andy Reid so badly that he appeared to tell a staffer not to return the helmet to Kelce before bumping him at the conclusion of a conversation.
It was ugly on the field.
Uglier yet on the Chiefs’ sideline.
Only three drives into the game, Patrick Mahomes felt it necessary to chew out his offensive line.
Two drives later, they had enough ammunition to return the favor, if they were inclined.
Mahomes packed the worst sequence of his career into one of the worst days of his career. The Chiefs allowed the Raiders two defensive touchdowns — on back-to-back plays.
The first came on a botched handoff exchange from Isiah Pacheco to Patrick Mahomes — no, I didn’t get that backwards — and the second was a late and soft throw from Mahomes that Jack Jones intercepted along the sideline and returned for a touchdown.
Seven seconds.
Fourteen points.
And insurmountable.
Why? Because of this ...
2. The Chiefs’ passing game
If you re-watch the game — if you can imagine stomaching that — pay attention to the Raiders’ safeties. Remember that three-year storyline of teams playing deep cover-2 to prevent the Chiefs from working the ball downfield?
Yeah, that’s not how the Raiders completely shut down the Chiefs.
The Raiders frequently sneaked a safety into the box on first and second downs and played their defensive backs closer to the line of scrimmage — to take away the Chiefs running game and short passing game.
The Chiefs still couldn’t pry loose deep. Did they really even do enough to adjust to it? The aforementioned game tape will tell more of that story.
It was windy inside Arrowhead Stadium, to be sure.
But the Chiefs averaged just 5.3 yards per passing attempt — the fourth lowest in Mahomes’ career. And even that was aided by some late prevent defense.
I know it’s popular to pick a single culprit for what’s happening (or not happening) with the Chiefs offense — Mahomes, head coach Andy Reid, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, the tackles, the receivers.
How’s this: They’re all to blame for it. There’s not a name on that list who had a good day.
The play-calling woes were magnified on a goal-to-go spot in which the Chiefs threw to the end zone only once in four downs. The quarterback looked nervous to throw the ball. There were more drops. And penalties.
Plenty to overshadow this...
3. The Chiefs’ defense was terrific
I know. I know.
No one wants to hear it right now, especially considering the defense couldn’t give the Chiefs the ball back one final time.
But my gosh, they gave it to them plenty.
The result isn’t on the defense, which allowed only two drives of 25-plus yards the entire game.
Aidan O’Connell, who you might recall tore the Chiefs up for a half in Vegas, spanned the final three quarters without a completion. Read that again. He did not complete a single pass after the first quarter in 10 attempts.
The winning quarterback, that guy.
It makes it all the more frustrating that the offense has timed its downturn with the emergence of a defense long coveted to couple with Mahomes.
4. Sadly, the highlight throw
The best play of the Chiefs’ first half.
The best throw of the Chiefs’ first half.
From the punter.
On a fake punt, Tommy Townsend threw an absolute dime to Justin Watson for an 11-yard gain. The yardage is misleading. Because he was lined up for a punt, Townsend actually threw it 20 yards downfield — and to the sideline.
And he couldn’t have placed it any better.
(Mahomes is probably wondering where the hell that kind of catch is when he’s in the pocket, but I digress.)
But the bigger point is this: The Chiefs had several moments in the first half that should’ve provided some life, including Raiders cornerback Jack Jones taunting and living to tell about it.
That fake punt? It led to zero points.
5. The starts
The Chiefs jammed a botched handoff, a sack-fumble, a dropped pass, a false start and an offensive offside into their first six plays.
A true art.
And a trend.
It’s a pick-your-stat-to-prove-your-point situation. And the options are aplenty.
The Chiefs have not produced an opening-drive touchdown in any of their seven home games this season. They’ve totaled just six points on those seven chances.
They’ve had only one opening-drive touchdown in the last nine weeks, and that one came out of the country.
Over the past five games, they have all of three points on opening possessions.
It’s not as though they just snapped out of it after one try, either. The Chiefs were at -18 yards in the first quarter, an average of -2.3 yards per play, which meant a 1-yard run served as their second best snap of a quarter in which they possessed the ball three times.
This story was originally published December 25, 2023 at 3:08 PM.