The Kansas City Chiefs woke up to a new reality this morning. They’re a .500 team, nothing more, nothing less, after dropping yesterday’s Thanksgiving game to the Dallas Cowboys, 31-28.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes knows it, and he’s not dodging that reality. It’s no longer a matter of cleaning up the “little things,” which is the phrase coach Andy Reid has used as his mantra for getting the Chiefs back on track.
"You've got to win every game now -- and hope that's enough," Mahomes said of the Chiefs' attempt to make the postseason with five games left in the regular season.
As usual, the schedule isn’t going to help. There are easy games at the tail end against the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders, but first the Chiefs have to get past the Houston Texans and their tough defense.
"We're going to play a lot of good teams coming up," Mahomes said. "If we're going to make the playoffs, we're going to have to win them all. That's got to be the mindset when we step into the [training facility] when we get back."
Nate Taylor of ESPN said the Chiefs believed they’d found their big win when they beat Indianapolis in overtime last week, and they started well against Dallas, turning an interception by cornerback Jaylen Watson into a 27-yard touchdown pass to receiver Rashee Rice.
Mahomes went on to throw four touchdown passes, but Dallas countered nearly every score with a drive of their own, so even that ended up not being enough.
The Chiefs quarterback has rewritten Kansas City’s record books during his career, but yesterday Mahomes set a record he’d probably like to give back. It was the first time the Chiefs lost when Mahomes threw four touchdown passes without an interception, and before yesterday Kansas City was 12-0 in those games.
"We can beat anybody, but we've shown that we can lose to anybody," Mahomes said. "We've got to be more consistent. We've had big plays and we've had runs where we can really score at any time, but we've got to be consistent for four quarters, especially when you play good teams and they have a good offense."
Health will be another key going forward. The Chiefs were down three offensive lineman by the end of yesterday’s loss, and they started the game without guard Trey Smith, who sprained his ankle against the Colts.
"Hopefully we can get some of these guys back and get them healthy over this extended week that we have," Mahomes said of the Chiefs' having 10 days to rest and recover before they host the Texans.