Chiefs Need More Than Patrick Mahomes Hero Ball to Rule AFC, Contend for Super Bowl | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

The NFL is the ultimate results-driven business. At the end of Sunday night’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, the Chiefs had 23 points and the Jets had 20. Four weeks into the season, the reigning Super Bowl champions are 3-1 and sit where they seemingly always do—atop the AFC West.

However, while the Chiefs may have gotten the win, there’s real reason for concern in Chiefs kingdom. Some patented Patrick Mahomes heroics may have salted the game away, but this is honestly a game the Chiefs shouldn’t need to salt. It should have been the cakewalk it appeared it was going to be when Kansas City raced out to a 17-0 first-quarter lead.

These Chiefs aren’t especially explosive offensively. These Chiefs aren’t especially dominant defensively. These Chiefs commit far too many mistakes—mistakes that let the Jets back into the game Sunday night.

Simply put, these Chiefs aren’t the best team in the AFC. Not the way they are playing right now. And there isn’t an easy fix to remedy that.

While speaking to Melissa Stark of NBC Sports after the game, Mahomes was quick to credit the resiliency of the Jets.

“I saw fight from their whole entire team,” he said. “When we got up 17-0 they could have just let us run it. But they fought to the very end and that’s a talented football team.”

In fairness, the Jets have an excellent defense. And outside a backbreaking fumble that allowed the Chiefs to essentially run the clock out, New York quarterback Zach Wilson played one of his better games in recent memory.

But here’s the cold reality—the Jets aren’t good. They entered Sunday night ranked dead last in the league in total offense. This is a team that the Chiefs should have rolled just like they did the Chicago Bears a week ago.

But they didn’t—for several reasons.

The first was Mahomes himself. In the second quarter of Sunday’s game, it appeared that some Freaky Friday action had happened and Mahomes and Wilson had changed places. Wilson was sharp and accurate. Mahomes was lobbing up gopher balls and turning it over. The NFL’s best quarterback finished the game 18 of 30 for 202 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. His passer rating was over 40 points lower than Zach freaking Wilson’s.

Mahomes made plays with his legs in the second half after the Jets tied the game at 20. And Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco had the best yardage game of his career. But the players around them didn’t do a lot to further the cause.

The Jets did a good job keeping tight end Travis Kelce in check, holding him to six catches for 60 yards. The next leading receiver was Pacheco, who caught three passes for 43 yards. As they have been most of the season, Kansas City’s wide receivers were a total non-factor. Rashee Rice, Skyy Moore, Kadarius Toney and Marques Valdez-Scantling combined for six catches for 60 yards.

With Tyreek Hill blowing up defenses in Miami and JuJu Smith-Schuster cashing checks but not catching passes in New England, the Chiefs have no vertical passing attack. Mahomes was averaging 7.1 yards per attempt entering Week 4—the lowest mark of his career. Against the Jets, he averaged a similar 6.8 yards per throw.

These Chiefs aren’t chewing up yardage in chunks through the air. Kansas City entered Sunday’s game a so-so 15th in the league in yards per attempt. Mahomes has thrown for 275 yards once in four games. And per Sunday night’s telecast, Kansas City doesn’t have a passing touchdown longer than 10 yards this season.

The receivers can’t solely be blamed for that backslide, either. Kansas City revamped their tackles in the offseason, and the results have been mixed at best. Left tackle Donovan Smith has been—OK. Right tackle Jawaan Taylor has been (per Sunday Night Football) the most penalized lineman in the NFL, and he was at it again against the Jets, committing a face mask in the end zone that resulted in a safety.

Kansas City’s ranking of fifth in the NFL in total defense entering Week 4 was a mirage born of games against the struggling offenses of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears. The Jets racked up 336 yards of offense Sunday—over 100 over their season average. Ironically, Kansas City had no answer for the Jets big-bodied tight ends most of the night.

The Chiefs have flaws. Significant ones. On both side of the ball. And when you look around the AFC, there are multiple teams that appear more than capable of knocking them from the postseason.

After a Week 1 setback against the Jets, the Buffalo Bills have grown more impressive by the week, with their latest effort a 48-20 beatdown of the previously undefeated Miami Dolphins. Buffalo has one of the most balanced rosters in the game—a potent offense and a stifling defense. The Dolphins may just have gotten throttled in Buffalo, but a week ago they dropped 70 points and 726 yards of offense on the Denver Broncos. The Baltimore Ravens aren’t piling up style points, but they are winning—and any team with a dynamic playmaker like Lamar Jackson is dangerous.

Look across the bracket to the NFC, and even stiffer challenges await. The Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers are both undefeated and possess balance and explosiveness in equal measure. The Dallas Cowboys have blown out three of the four teams they have faced.

Every one of those teams look better on paper right now than the Chiefs. That’s just the truth.

Of course, games aren’t played on paper. And the Chiefs have something no other team in the league does—Patrick Mahomes. There isn’t another player in the league more capable of standing on his head and willing a team to victory.

But the problem in Kansas City is that isn’t a bonus anymore. It’s seemingly the expectation—that no matter Kansas City’s limitations, Mahomes will be able to magically lead the Chiefs to victory despite a lack of passing-game weapons outside Kelce, a suspect offensive line and an average defense.

Against the New York Jets, he was able to do that. Same with the Bears and Jaguars. But the Chiefs lost to the only team they have played this season with a winning record. That wasn’t a fluke. It was a warning sign.

Kansas City will probably be fine next week against a Minnesota Vikings team with no defense. And the week after against a Denver Broncos team that is just bad. But the Chiefs don’t get to keep playing tomato cans forever.

And when the level of opposition increases, we may well find out that even Patrick Mahomes can only do so much.