Five things that stood out about the Chiefs’ crushing loss to Jaguars on MNF
The track record in Jacksonville is a series of unfortunate events, and that hasn’t been because of the record.
Well, not previously.
The Jaguars answered the Chiefs’ fourth-quarter comeback with one of their own for a 31-28 win in a game suited for its “Monday Night Football” billing at EverBank Stadium.
They’ve had injuries in Jacksonville. They’ve had benchings.
This one will sting far worse.
Here are five observations from immediately after the game:
1. The other foot
The Chiefs have built a living out of winning games that the box score says they probably shouldn’t.
They played the opposite role Monday.
The Chiefs out-gained the Jaguars by more than 150 yards and were far better on a per-play basis, too. They totaled 11.7 yards per play on their initial three drives and finished at 7.6. They moved the ball into Jaguars territory on seven of their initial nine drives.
And lost.
The Chiefs are going to look over their final numbers and wonder how the heck they lost.
Oh, here’s one reason:
2. A pick-6
A 99-yard pick-six is hard to overcome.
Patrick Mahomes played good football — that first half is the best football we’ve seen him play in a long time, and his comeback drive in the fourth quarter was darn-near perfection — but I have no idea what he saw at the goal line in the third quarter.
Or maybe it’s what he didn’t see.
Devin Lloyd easily stepped in front of a Mahomes pass and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown in what was a tie game.
The play had a 12.7-point swing, per rbsdm.com. That’s the game, in other words.
It didn’t have to be a 99-yard return by the way. It’s hard to criticize the offense’s ability to tackle, but somebody has to make a play there. It’s not as though Lloyd was motoring down the field. Kareem Hunt had the best chance, and if he doesn’t make the tackle, he at least has to disrupt the momentum enough to allow a teammate to do so.
Again, I know it’s not their primary responsibility, or secondary. But the Chiefs win games on the little things. You can lose them that way, too.
3. The penalties
Oh, here’s another way they lost: penalties.
The referees put themselves in a spotlight with a few tough calls, but the Chiefs put themselves squarely in it, too.
Chamarri Connor committed a defensive pass interference to put the ball on the 1-yard line. It was a close call that, to be honest, I think could have gone either way, but having your back to the football is a bad place to start. To be fair, the pass gave him far too long to cover.
But let’s go back to the start of that drive — or before the drive.
After Patrick Mahomes engineered a 12-play, 86-yard go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter, Harrison Butker kicked the ball out of bounds on the kickoff, giving the Jaguars the ball at the 40.
The Chiefs went 86. The Jaguars needed to go only 60.
It’s a big swing.
It’s the first time this season Butker hasn’t missed a kick, but it leaves his day far from perfect.
The Chiefs committed 13 penalties for 109 yards.
4. A slap
I don’t know yet if Nick Bolton will tell us after the game that he knew for certain what Trevor Lawrence was going to do at the goal line.
But I know this: I wouldn’t put it past him.
And it sure looked like it.
Lawrence attempted to go over the pile on a fourth-down snap from the 1-yard line, but Bolton greeted him there, slapping the ball away and forcing a fumble inches before the ball reached the line.
Lawrence has put on tape his preference to go over the top on sneaks, and if it’s on tape, you can bet Bolton has seen it.
That play alone was worth 4.2 points, per the rbsdm.com model.
5. The run game
That loss will be tough to forget, I realize.
There were some positives, and a lot of them on the offensive end.
A surprising one: the running game. Mahomes was on a heater in the opening half. He had his best friend to help kickstart the ride.
The running game — to which offensive coordinator Matt Nagy referred as a quarterback’s best friend — finally joined the party. It’s not a coincidence the pass game heated up, too.
Isiah Pacheco had his longest carry this season — and broke two tackles to do it. Kareem Hunt produced his longest carry in four calendar years.
I’m dubious of this becoming a theme — this group of running backs getting more than what’s there — but it proves its impact on the offense.
This story was originally published October 6, 2025 at 10:29 PM.