The Kansas City Chiefs, the reigning Super Bowl champion, were quite upset on Christmas Day after losing to the Las Vegas Raiders 20-14, which further highlighted the team’s offensive problems.
Kansas dropped to 9-6, guaranteeing they would not receive the No. 1 spot in the AFC, thus delaying the Chiefs’ seventh straight AFC West championship.
However, the way the loss was handled seemed to incite discontent. The Chiefs had the poorest first-quarter total of any NFL club since 2004 with a total of -18 yards, while the Raiders scored two defensive touchdowns in seven seconds during the second quarter.
During the first half, tensions on the Chiefs sideline erupted when cameras showed Patrick Mahomes berating his teammates and Travis Kelce throwing his helmet so hard that it rebounded several meters off the ground.
Following his exchange of words and shoulder-bumping with Kelce, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid told reporters that “things happen – emotional game.”
He continued, “Trav’s emotional, and my red hair sometimes gets to me a little bit, but it all works out.”
While accepting “full responsibility” for his team’s offensive performance and asserting that they “just got to get through this,” Reid claimed that his team’s frustrations were at an all-time high.
Following Mahomes’ furious exchange with the sideline, Isiah Pacheco of the Chiefs got the direct snap with 12 yards out, faked a handoff to Mahomes, and scored to put the team on the scoreboard.
However, soon after, the Raider’s defense recovered a Pacheco fumble for a touchdown by Bilal Nichols, completely turning the tide of the game. The Raiders then scored back-to-back defensive touchdowns on the very next possession when Jack Jones beat Mahomes on a pick-six.
The Chiefs’ miscues continued with Harrison Butker’s incomplete field goal and their offensive unit’s two botched fourth-down conversions.
Pop sensation Taylor Swift, accompanied by her family, was in the stands supporting tight-end Kelce on Christmas.
The Chiefs will now try to get back on track before the playoffs, which are rapidly approaching when they play the Cincinnati Bengals in December.
After the game, Mahomes gave reporters some reason for hope, saying, “You see glimpses of us moving the football, you see glimpses of us scoring the red zone.”
He continued, “It’s just that we haven’t done it enough, both in and out of games.” “As the season draws to a close, we’ve kind of had one good game, one bad game, one good game, one bad game, but we need to be more consistent because you have to string something together when you get to the playoffs.”
