KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rumors of the Kansas City Chiefs’ demise appear unfounded.
Staring down a battle of surprising 1-2 teams early in the 2025 NFL season, Patrick Mahomes and company didn’t blink in rolling to a 37-20 victory Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
It was the most points the Chiefs had scored in a game since a 41-10 win in Week 3 against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 24, 2023*.
* Yes, that was the first game Taylor Swift, who is now Travis Kelce’s fiancée, appeared at a Chiefs game at Arrowhead.
“We knew all we needed to do is execute, so I'm proud of the way the guys stepped up, handled the week, really focused on the game plan — schemes, all those things — and it really showed off,” center Creed Humphrey said.
Kansas City had gone 34 consecutive games without scoring more than 30 points in a regular-season game since, though the Chiefs did score 32 in last season’s AFC Championship Game win against Buffalo.
Meanwhile, the defense largely dominated — as it did in a 22-9 win last Sunday against the New York Giants — before the second-string allowed a Justice Hill 71-yard touchdown late, making the final a bit more cosmetically appealing.
“Those first couple weeks obviously weren't our best,” said safety Jaden Hicks, who made four tackles. “But now that we're stacking on top, it just goes to show how lethal this group can be. We're just going to keep on stacking, keep going. I feel like this isn't even our ceiling yet.”
JONES ARRIVES ON TIME
Panic set in for Chiefs Kingdom on Saturday when defensive tackle Chris Jones appeared on the injury report.
He missed practice to return to his native Mississippi for a funeral, so it was for personal reasons, but still put his availability for kickoff in jeopardy.
Jones’ flight to Kansas City was reportedly scheduled to land at 2:40 p.m., about 45 minutes before kickoff.
But when the PA announcer introduced the defense before the game, the CEO of Sack Nation came rumbling onto the field right on time.
Jones only finished with one tackle, but it was for a loss. He also tipped a Lamar Jackson pass, causing an incompletion, and hit the Ravens’ shifty former MVP quarterback twice.
Jackson left with a hamstring injury early in the fourth quarter. He went 14 for 20 for 147 yards with a touchdown and an interception, adding six carries for 48 yards on the ground.
WORTHY MAKES EXPLOSIVE IMPACT
Xavier Worthy left the season-opener after three offensive snaps, knocked from the game after colliding with teammate Travis Kelce on a crossing route.
He missed the next two games with a shoulder injury, but he made an immediate impact in his return with five catches for a career-high 83 yards and two carries for 38 yards on the ground.
“I'm just happy to be back out there with the guys, just being back out there and having fun with the guys,” Worthy said. “You see the videos in practice of me dancing and stuff like that. I feel like that's what it felt like.”
Worthy, who set an NFL Combine record in the 40-yard dash before the Chiefs made him a first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, had three explosive plays in helping ignite an offense.
With the Chiefs trailing 7-6 late in the second quarter, Worthy dashed around the left end 35 yards on the opening play of the offense’s first touchdown drive.
Patrick Mahomes, who finished 25 of 37 for 270 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions after getting pulled in the fourth quarter with the game decided, capped the drive with a rocket to JuJu Smith-Schuster for a 4-yard score and a 13-7 lead.
Worthy snagged a 37-yard pass on the prior drive to set up the second field goal.
During the opening drive of the third quarter, as the Chiefs recaptured momentum coming out of halftime, Worthy had a 28-yard catch and run that helped lead to Mahomes’ 11-yard touchdown dart to Tyquan Thornton.
While his production Sunday was a career-best in the regular season, Worthy had more than 83 receiving yards in two of the Chiefs' three playoff games last season, making six grabs for 85 yards with a touchdown in the AFC Championship Game and eight catches for 157 yards with two scores in Super Bowl LIX.
TURNOVER BONANZA
Baltimore was driving again after opening the game with a touchdown when linebacker Leo Chenal turned around just in time to tip a Jackson pass, which was intended for Mark Andrews on a wheel route down the visitors’ sideline.
Falling to the ground, Chenal hugged the ball to his chest for his first career interception.
Later in the first quarter, Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum accidentally nudged the ball from Jackson’s grasp, and Drue Tranquill pounded on the fumble.
With that, Kansas City was off and running in a rare three-score rout.
“They put pressure on the quarterback, they got interceptions, they got turnovers, and that sparked us offensively,” Mahomes said. “Giving us those short fields, we have to execute and score off those. It was a good team football game. It wasn't just offense, wasn't just defense or special teams, it was everybody coming together, and that's what we need the rest of the year.”
The Chiefs snagged two turnovers for the second straight week after failing to force a turnover during an 0-2 start.
Kansas City, which was minus-1 after the first two games, is plus-4 over the last two weeks.
“We definitely feed off the defense,” Thornton said. “Those guys went out there, played a great game, and gave us more opportunities to go out there and put points on the board."
The defense also got a fourth-down stop near midfield late in the second quarter.
While technically not a turnover, it might as well have been. It set up the surging Chiefs’ offense with a short field one drive after taking the lead.
“We just play off each other,” said Chenal, who also had four tackles. “That's the biggest thing. Whether it's kickoff return, a fourth-down stop, turnover — I feel like our guys are just ready to play. It gives a little boost when we're making plays for each other and hyping each other up.”
Mahomes made sure it hurt, going 4 of 6 and accounting for all 40 yards in pushing Kansas City’s lead to 20-7 on an 8-yard TD toss to Isiah Pacheco.
“They talked about how they could out-physical us,” Hicks said. “We just had a chip on our shoulder, ready to attack this week, and we went out there and executed everything.”
MAHOMES CONJURES 4-TD MAGIC
Mahomes threw four touchdowns in a game for the first time since Oct. 22, 2023 — a 31-17 home win against the Chargers.
It’s only his second four-touchdown game during the last three seasons.
“The offensive line protected him well for the most part,” Reid said, “so he feels good.”
Oddly, Mahomes also had an 8-yard touchdown pass to Pacheco in that game, but this one made history as Mahomes, who turned 30 earlier this month, became the youngest NFL QB to reach 250 career touchdown passes.
“It’s phenomenal; that’s incredible,” Reid said. “Whatever you write good about him, he deserves, man. Give him everything. That joker is unbelievable. We're lucky to have him.”
During the drubbing of the Ravens on Sunday, Mahomes threw a 4-yard touchdown to Smith-Schuster, the milestone TD to Pacheco, and an 11-yard rope to Thornton.
But the prettiest of them all was a perfectly weighted floater while scrambling to his right, which he lofted over two Baltimore defenders and into Hollywood Brown’s waiting arms for the game-icing score early in the fourth quarter.
BUTKER’S STRUGGLES CONTINUE
The Chiefs appear to have a growing Harrison Butker problem.
The ninth-year kicker missed a 56-yard field goal try late in the second quarter, pulling it wide left and setting up the Ravens with a short field.
Baltimore turned the field position into a 43-yard Tyler Loop field goal to close the half and pull within 20-10.
It was the fifth missed kick, including at least one in every game this season, for the normally reliable Butker.
“But (short for Butker) missed a 56-yarder, but that's 56 yards, you know,” Reid said. “So, we've gotten spoiled. He's fine, and we'll get right back in the swing there. He did with the last two.”
He missed his only extra-point try in the season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil.
It would have tied the game, but instead the Chiefs never drew even.
Butker missed a 58-yard try in the home-opening loss to Philadelphia in Week 2.
His counterpart, Jake Elliott, made his 58-yard try from the same spot to close the first half in a 20-17 win.
While Patrick Mahomes’ goal-line interception that ricocheted off Travis Kelce’s hands understandably grabbed the headlines, Butker’s miss was critical as well.
Butker made three field goals as the Chiefs grabbed a foothold in the season last week with a win at the New York Giants, but he also pushed a 40-yard try to the right and hooked a point-after try wide left, though it was from 48 yards out because of a penalty on the preceding touchdown.
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