Chiefs game report | 5 takeaways as Kansas City falters late in Jacksonville

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs took the lead on Kareem Hunt’s second fourth-quarter touchdown with 1:45 remaining.

Yet another Patrick Mahomes was assured in yet another prime primetime moment, right?

Trevor Lawrence and a resurgent Jacksonville squad under first-year coach Liam Coen had other ideas, punishing yet another Harrison Butker mistake en route to a stunning 31-28 win on Monday Night Football.

Lawrence scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard scramble with 23 seconds left.

He initially fell down after getting his foot stepped on before getting back to his feet and dodging tacklers on a wild run to the left which sent EverBank Stadium into rapture.

“I thought multiple times we had him,” defensive lineman Chris Jones said. “We’ve just got to finish. We had multiple guys there that, we’ve just got to finish that play. It was a fluke play for him to be able to break that many tackles. But I put it on us as a defense. We’ve got to finish; we’ve got to bring him down on that.”

Lawrence, who threw for a touchdown and ran for two more, overcame a sack and delay of game penalty on the drive.

“I thought we had him there, but he’s a competitor and he had a good day running with his legs,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.

Kansas City seemed poised to vault into a three-way tie for first place in the AFC West with the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos.

Instead, the Chiefs slipped to 2-3, marking the worst start to a season since going 3-4 to kick off the 2021 season. That’s the only time in the last six seasons that Kansas City failed to reach the Super Bowl.

“It stinks,” said cornerback Trent McDuffie, whose first interception of the season set up Hunt's first fourth-quarter TD. “I feel like that game was really on the defense to go out there, make a stop and win the game.”

NOT AT ALL SPECIAL TEAMS

The Chiefs committed four special teams penalties, including a Jack Cochrane holding penalty that erased a 34-yard kickoff return in the game’s closing seconds, all but ensuring Mahomes had no chance to pull off a miraculous comeback.

“There wasn’t a common denominator other than a couple guys got called twice, but we’ve got to just fix the problems with it,” Reid said.

Of course, Kansas City only needed to score in the final 23 seconds because Butker booted the ensuing kickoff out of bounds after the offense’s remarkable 12-play, 86-yard touchdown march that should have iced the game.

Butker’s gaffe gave Jacksonville the ball at their own 40-yard line to start what turned out to be the game-winning drive.

“They got a good starting point at the 40,” Reid said. “We’ve got to do a better job there with the kick.”

Cochrane’s first holding penalty on kickoff return erased a 63-yard Brashard Smith return.

Instead of starting that drive at the Jags 38-yard line, the Chiefs started at their own 20 and wound up punting.

GOAL-LINE PICK BITES KC AGAIN

Mahomes wanted to hit JuJu Smith-Schuster on a quick slant in the middle of the end zone for a go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter, but he never saw linebacker Devin Lloyd drop right in the passing lane.

“They showed blitz and popped that guy out,” Reid said. “Pat didn’t see him.”

Lloyd snagged Mahomes’ throw at the 1-yard line, shrugged off attempts to tackle him by Travis Kelce, Mahomes and Kareem Hunt and set sail down the home sideline.

Ninety-nine yards later, clutching tight as Tyquan Thornton tried in vain to pop the ball free from behind, Jacksonville had its lead first of the game as Kansas City coughed up yet another prime goal-to-go scoring situation.

The game had been tied at 14-14, but instead of taking the lead on the drive, it was Jacksonville that went in front.

Three weeks ago, it was a goal-line interception that Kelce tipped into the waiting arms of Philadelphia Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba that proved to be the Chiefs’ undoing in a 20-17 loss.

RED-ZONE FLEX

Jacksonville had marched 60 yards on eight plays deep into Kansas City territory.

The Jaguars’ drive appeared ticketed for the end zone and likely a tie game, but they were rebuffed by two brilliant individual efforts from Chiefs defenders.

On third-and-goal at the 3-yard line, Trevor Lawrence kept the ball on a QB sweep right and appeared to have a path to the pylon before safety Jaden Hicks cut in front of center Robert Hainsey and hammered the Jacksonville quarterback out of bounds at the 1.

The Jags went for it on fourth down, but linebacker Nick Bolton swatted the ball from Lawrence’s grasp an inch from the goal line as he tried to reach over the line of scrimmage.

George Karlaftis corralled the ball as it popped behind Lawrence for a fumble recovery.

"That kind of shifted momentum, fourth-down stop

The Chiefs’ offense made the turnover hurt with a brisk five-play, 97-yard touchdown drive.

Kareem Hunt kicked off the drive by rumbling 33 yards on the first play, which is tied for Hunt’s longest career run since 2018 during his first stint with Kansas City.

After a couple Mahomes completions, he scrambled around and found Tyquan Thornton running free deep down the right sideline for a 34-yard gain. It was Thornton’s second completion of 30-plus yards in the first half.

Mahomes scored on the next play with his 9-yard touchdown run doubling Kansas City’s first-half lead to 14-0.

The Chiefs have established themselves as one of the top red-zone defenses in recent years, but they didn’t get the stop when it mattered Monday.

Chamarri Conner’s defensive pass interference in the end zone on third-and-13 from the 14-yard line set up the Jags’ game-winning score.

BIG-PLAY THORNTON

Thornton’s breakout debut season with the Chiefs continued Monday in Jacksonville.

He finished with three catches for a career-best 90 yards, all in the first half.

Thornton sparked both first-half touchdown drives with big plays.

His 32-yard catch and run on third-and-9 was the key play on Kansas City’s first touchdown drive — a nine-play, 72-yard march capped by Mahomes’ 2-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce.

The score gave Kelce 502 career points, which moved him past Priest Holmes for the most by a non-kicker in franchise history.

Originally, JuJu Smith-Schuster was flagged for offensive pass interference on the play, but officials picked up the hanky, ruling that the pick was legal since it happened within a yard of the line of scrimmage.

Thornton’s 34-yard catch on the next drive again was a catalyst. It’s his fifth catch of at least 30 yards in five games since joining the Chiefs. He never had a reception longer than 29 yards in three seasons with New England.

In fact, in 28 games across three seasons with the Patriots, Thornton only had three games where he topped 30 yards — all coming during his rookie season.

Thornton made only 17 receptions in 15 games during the next two seasons with the Patriots, none longer than 17 yards during that span.

DOUBLE-DIGIT NICK

Nick Bolton led the Chiefs in tackles, which isn’t unusual.

He finished with a team-high 12 tackles, which also isn’t unusual as Bolton reaches double-digit tackles in more than 27% of his career games.

Bolton now has 17 career games with at least 10 tackles. He’s played 62 games since the Chiefs made him a second-round pick from Mizzou in 2021.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo regularly praises Bolton as his eyes and ears on the field for Kansas City’s defense, a big reason the Chiefs signed him to a long-term extension during the offseason.

Bolton, who has topped 100 tackles in three of his four seasons, also forced a key fumble during the first half.

He has four double-digit tackle games in 13 career playoff appearances as well.

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