Patrick Mahomes Gets Honest About Chiefs’ Future After Loss to Cowboys

It was not a Thanksgiving to remember for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Mahomes, 30, and Kansas City lost 31-28 to the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Thursday, November 27, putting the Chiefs’ playoff hopes in severe peril. 

“You’ve got to win every game now — and hope that’s enough,” Mahomes told reporters after the game. 

The loss to the Cowboys dropped Kansas City to 6-6, firmly outside of the current AFC playoff picture. 

According to ESPN Analytics, the Chiefs currently have a 47 percent chance to make the postseason. Kansas City has not missed the playoffs since he took over as starting quarterback in 2018. 

“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 [team facility] when we get back.”

Three of the Chiefs’ remaining five games — against the Houston Texans, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos — come against teams currently ahead of them in the AFC standings. They also play the league-worst Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders. 

The Chiefs had momentum coming into their Thanksgiving showdown with the Cowboys, having knocked off the AFC South-leading Indianapolis Colts at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, November 23. 

“We can beat anybody, but we’ve shown that we can lose to anybody,” Mahomes added. “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.”

Having played on the holiday, the Chiefs have 10 days off before hosting the Texans on Sunday, December 7. 

Mahomes is hopeful the extended break will give Kansas City a chance to get their battered lineup in playing shape.

“Hopefully we can get some of these guys back and get them healthy over this extended week that we have,” Mahomes said. 

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid balked at blaming injuries, instead lamenting his team’s lack of discipline. 

“The bottom line is we’re having too many penalties, and we’ve got to make sure we take care of that,” Reid, 67, told reporters after the game. “No excuses with it. We’ll work on cleaning it up. The guys know. They understand we’ve got to clean up a few things.”

He added, “We’ve got to do better as coaches. We’ve got to do better as players. You go back to the drawing board and you keep working.”

Kansas City took 10 penalties for a total of 119 yards against the Cowboys. 

However, Reid did raise a point of contention with Thursday’s officials over some of the calls. 

“I’m not always going to agree with the call, but the calls were made,” Reid said. “[Dallas has] some physical receivers, big, strong physical guys, and that’s the way they were playing.”

Reid added, “My guys were fighting to maintain leverage in that, and it’s just not the way I saw it, but it’s the way the referees saw it.”