With Chiefs reeling, their Tyrann Mathieu-led defense reversed this team’s fortunes
When it was somewhat invitingly pointed out to Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu last week that Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers had thrown 10 interceptions this season, Mathieu couldn’t resist seizing the moment.
“I’m hoping he’ll throw me one,” he said, smiling.
Turned out Mathieu couldn’t resist the opportunity on Monday night at Estadio Azteca, either, in a wacky 24-17 victory made possible by four Chiefs interceptions. That included Daniel Sorensen’s game-saving nab in the end zone in the final seconds after the Chargers had driven from their own 9-yard-line to the Kansas City 14 on a last-gasp comeback attempt here at 7,200 feet above sea level that was just part of an atypical atmosphere in this distinct and crackling locale.
“There’s not a lot of oxygen. But it’s good oxygen,” Chiefs’ coach Andy Reid joked after the game. “We used every bit of it, I think, towards the end there.”
Mathieu applied a virtual oxygen mask with the Chiefs drooping early in a game that featured their much-maligned defense both lifting them from out of an early offensive funk and coming through in the clutch a week after they’d botched it in a similar circumstance.
“I think we’re starting to want to be in that situation,” Mathieu said.
The game was heading in a different direction before Mathieu supplied one of those moments you can almost tangibly feel change a game.
With the Chargers leading just 3-0 but the offense straitjacketed and the Chargers roaming up and down the field, he plucked a Rivers’ pass for a 35-yard return.
“He came all the way across from the back side on that to make that play and then ... you saw some of his punt return ability,” Reid said, noting that Mathieu had been a returner “when he was a young pup.”
Veteran that he is now at 27, Mathieu pointed to the coverage the Chiefs were in that “really puts me in the position to read the quarterback and really use my instincts to make a play. And I was very fortunate that Rivers didn’t see me and threw it to me.”
That play jump-started a meandering offense, setting up LeSean McCoy’s 6-yard touchdown run that gave the Chiefs a lead they’d never surrender. And it flipped the unfolding script in a game that had all the earmarks of the Chiefs careening toward their fifth loss in seven games.
To borrow from former Chiefs and Bills coach Marv Levy, the only must-win was World War II. And as former Cowboy Duane Thomas once put it when asked about the Super Bowl being the ultimate game, “If it’s the ultimate game, how come they’re playing it again next year?”
But if this game wasn’t a must or an ultimate, it sure seemed essential. In a season of wild swings that have made figuring out this team’s direction confounding, the Chiefs needed this one to rekindle the promise implied by a 4-0 start one season after falling just tormentingly short of their first Super Bowl in nearly half a century and amid the all-things-possible faith that quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ presence inspires.
Especially with the Chiefs entering the night suddenly tied with Oakland atop the AFC West with 6-4 records with the surging Raiders up next on the schedule Dec. 1 at Arrowhead Stadium.
OK, so Mathieu’s interception wasn’t quite the pick-six we’ve been predicting (which is to say I’ve been predicting) he’ll uncork for some weeks now on our SportsBeat KC podcast. And, yes, he sure dropped a gimme with the Chiefs leading 24-9 late in the third quarter, a reprieve that allowed the Chargers back in the game.
“Kind of mad about that one,” he said. “That was kind of a freebie.”
But the earlier play had virtually the same impact as a touchdown with the Chiefs’ offense going nowhere fast in the first half. They were outgained 312-109, and an out-of-sync Mahomes had been rendered fleetingly human in passing for just 63 yards.
And it was part of the signature of a night that featured Frank Clark (who also had a big impact on the game) forcing a Rivers interception from the Kansas City 25 that was hauled in by nose tackle Derrick Nnadi. Then there was Rashad Fenton’s interception earlier in the fourth quarter.
“They really stepped up and won the game for us,” Mahomes said.
The turnover spree delivered on another point of emphasis Mathieu made after the Chiefs’ defense failed to stop Tennessee from going 61 yards in the last 90 seconds with no timeouts left in what became a 35-32 defeat.
Asked how the defense would move on from that breakdown, Mathieu spoke both to the season behind and the season ahead when it comes to the unit whose improvement is a key to whether the Chiefs can make a meaningful postseason run.
“Ultimately, I think it falls on guys like myself really taking pride and understanding that someone needs to make a play, and we haven’t made that play yet,” he said. “You can go back and look through the whole season but particularly the four losses: We didn’t make that play on defense.
“I want to make that play, and I know a lot of guys on our defense want to make that play. ... Hopefully (then) that play can carry us over and get us some momentum into the next few weeks.”
That part remains to be seen. But on a night when the offense wasn’t quite itself, the defense made that play and more to keep the Chiefs from vanishing into thin air … and making good both on Mathieu’s recent words and the sort of mojo he was expected to bring to this team when they signed him in the offseason.
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 1:11 AM.