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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs lead the league in dropped passes, are sixth in turnovers and first in offensive penalties and offensive penalty yardage.
The Chiefs aren’t just making these mistakes at crucial times. But it does seem like it.
The Chiefs have cost themselves with a dropped pass, turnover or penalty — sometimes more than one — at a big juncture of the game in each of their five losses. Those plays have come to define their season and place it in peril. The Chiefs at 8-5 are two games behind the Baltimore Ravens in the race for the AFC’s top playoff seed. Their lead over the Denver Broncos in the AFC West is down to one game.
Here are five plays that helped define the Chiefs’ season.
Week 1: Kadarius Toney’s dropped pass is intercepted and returned for a touchdown
Toney and the Chiefs rolled two of their problems into one play in the season-opener against the Detroit Lions. With the Chiefs leading 14-7 in the third quarter, Toney ran a shallow crossing route left to right on third-and-six from the Kansas City 46-yard line. Patrick Mahomes saw Toney open and put the ball where it needed to be to pick up the first down.
But Toney didn’t catch the pass, deflecting it instead to safety Brian Branch, who returned it 50 yards for the game-tying touchdown. The Chiefs would go on to lose, 21-20.
The dropped pass was one of five for the Chiefs that night. The interception was the first of the season for Mahomes, who now has 11. He’s on pace for 14, the highest total of his career.
“He’s a very secure catcher,” coach Andy Reid said after the game. “I think you’ll see better as we go down the road here from him.”
Toney dropped three passes in that game. He has dropped only one since, in last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
“I have to put the work in, a lot of work,” Toney said after Week 1. “Spend 30 minutes after practice catching from the [throwing machine], catching from the quarterback, whatever I have to do. I just have to make sure that I show up when it’s time.”
The Chiefs won the six games after playing Detroit and then went to Denver to play the Broncos, a team the Chiefs had beaten 16 straight times. They were behind 21-9 midway through the fourth quarter facing a fourth-and-2 from the Denver 26.
Rather than merely try a shorter yardage play to convert, the Chiefs went for a touchdown. It appeared they would make it work, too. The Chiefs’ formation caught the Broncos by surprise and Moore was single covered by safety P.J. Locke, who was late in getting to Moore.
Mahomes placed the ball perfectly, but the ball went through Moore’s arm’s for an incompletion. A catch would have pulled the Chiefs within a touchdown. Instead, down by two scores, they ran only five more plays — none from Denver’s half of the field. They wound up losing, 24-9.
“They’re going to know that I’m going to keep firing to them,” Mahomes said afterward about the Moore drop and others. “That’s just who I am. I’m going to keep firing to open guys, let them make plays and I trust those guys.”
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The Chiefs looked ready to finish off the Philadelphia Eagles early in the fourth quarter. They led, 17-14, and had a first down on the Eagles’ 14 after converting on fourth down on the previous play.
Kelce caught a short pass from Mahomes and made his way to the 9-yard line, where the Eagles punched the ball out and recovered the fumble. Philadelphia would later score the go-ahead touchdown and go on to win 21-17.
Kelce’s fumble was one of two Chiefs’ red zone turnovers in that game and one of four this season.
Kelce was short in talking about the fumble afterward.
“I’ve got to be better,” he said. “It’s all fixable, just have to do it.”
Week 13: Mahomes throws fourth-quarter interception
The Chiefs trailed the Green Bay Packers, 24-19, midway through the final period and had a first down on the Green Bay 49. But Mahomes threw an interception that killed the drive. The Packers eventually tacked on another field goal and held on for a 27-19 win.
Mahomes and his intended receiver, Moore, had different ideas about how the route was to be run. Moore briefly stopped his route as Mahomes was making the throw, indicating he believed Mahomes would throw to his back shoulder, away from the defender.
Mahomes threw the pass as if Moore would continue the route down the field. Mahomes wondered publicly after the game whether Moore was right and he should have thrown to his back shoulder.
“That’s a mistake on my part that you can’t make in that situation,” Mahomes said.
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Week 14: Toney is flagged for offside penalty in fourth quarter
This one cost the Chiefs not only a touchdown that would have put them ahead with less than two minutes remaining against the Buffalo Bills, but a spectacular play. After catching a pass from Mahomes, Kelce threw a cross-field lateral to Toney, who completed what looked to be a 49-yard touchdown.
But it didn’t count. Toney lined up offside and was penalized, wiping out the play. The Chiefs eventually turned the ball over on downs and lost, 20-17.
The Chiefs, most notably Reid and Mahomes, were livid that Toney was penalized for an infraction that had no bearing on the result of the play. But nobody disputed that Toney indeed lined up offside.
Reid said the Chiefs would coach Toney and their other receivers to check with the official after lining up to confirm they are aligned properly. In the meantime, he indicated Toney would remain in the lineup despite a second crushing mistake of the season.
“The thing I know is he makes plays,” Reid said. “He makes plays when he has the ball in his hand and that’s important. He’s a young guy. He doesn’t have … a ton of experience, but I think he’s getting better every week.”