The good news for the Kansas City Chiefs: They are no longer winless after a 22-9 victory over the New York Giants on “Sunday Night Football.”
The bad news? The Chiefs still hardly resemble the team that has reached at least the AFC Championship game every year since 2018 — and their once potent offense remains disjointed at best.
Entering Week 3 with a 0-2 record, Kansas City desperately needed a win in any fashion it could get one on Sunday. For a team with a legendary quarterback and Super Bowl aspirations, however, the ugliness of the Chiefs’ offensive slog against the Giants left a lot to be desired moving forward.
“Good win to get, in particular when you haven’t had one,” head coach Andy Reid said after.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes finished the game 22-of-37 for 224 yards and one touchdown, with an 85.9 passer rating. He has yet to break a passer rating of 90.0 so far this season, despite boasting a career mark of 101.8 before Sunday.
And his so-so game didn’t necessarily come against a great defense — Mahomes’s passing total and 6.1 yards per attempt were both the lowest for any quarterback who has played New York this year.
Overall, through three games, Mahomes’s passer rating, yards per attempt and completion percentage would all be career lows if they carried through for the rest of the season.
“I feel like we were moving the ball the right way,” Mahomes said postgame. “We have to clean stuff up and get better and better.”
He added: “For us, just executing all the way throughout a drive and seeing that, that’s what we want to be. We have to continue to do that more often.”
To be fair, Mahomes’s receiving corps still leaves a lot to be desired, even if Tyquan Thornton had some nice moments in the second half against the New York. Kansas City still doesn’t have a player with over 100 yards receiving in a single game yet so far this year.
Travis Kelce, once one of the league’s most feared tight ends, has 10 catches for 134 yards through three games. He is on pace for 759 yards receiving this season, which would be the lowest mark of his career, one year after he set a new career low in 2024. (And that’s with the recent benefit of a 17th regular-season game.)
Perhaps in an attempt to fire him up, Reid was caught in a heated conversation with Kelce late in the second quarter, with him and the tight end bumping chests.
“He’s a passionate guy and I love that part,” Reid said of the exchange. “I’ve been through a lot of things with him, that’s all part of it. I love that he loves to play the game.”
The offense wasn’t alone in its struggles, as the Chiefs’ miscues extended to the whole team.
Harrison Butker missed multiple kicks, including a field goal and an extra point.
Kansas City committed eight penalties for 85 yards, including multiple on a first-half drive that led to a Giants touchdown.
It wasn’t exactly a sterling effort from the Chiefs, who were bailed out in large part due to two Russell Wilson interceptions — as well as a bizarre decision by Wilson to seemingly throw away the ball on a late 4th-and-goal.
“We’ve been searching for one win and try to figure out how we can get this thing going,” linebacker Nick Bolton said. “The main thing now is just keep working, keep stacking and try to get another, then get another win.”
For now, Kansas City is certainly happy to come away with a victory. But it’s hard to imagine the team rising to the top of the AFC with more performances like Sunday’s.
Only two of the Chiefs’ next eight opponents have a record under .500, and both of those contests will be against divisional rivals. Meanwhile, over the next two months, Kansas City will have to play the Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills, Washington Commanders and the currently undefeated Indianapolis Colts, all of whom have been much more impressive early in the season.
Ultimately, the Chiefs took care of business against a lesser foe on Sunday. If Kansas City continues on its current trajectory, however, it still doesn’t look like the kind of team that could live up to its past success.
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