Kansas City, Mo. — After one of their ugliest games of the season, Patrick Mahomes said the Kansas City Chiefs have found a path to reach the heights they've been able to reach in recent seasons.
Mahomes said after a 20-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders that delayed the Chiefs by at least a week from winning an eighth straight AFC West championship.
“How do we fix it as quickly as possible,” he said. “We've got two more games to go and that's guaranteed, and then you're talking about the playoffs, so all you can do is go to the next day, then get better and try to be better the next time we step on the field.”
The Chiefs won't have to do much to improve next week against the Cincinnati Bengals. They finished the first quarter against the Raiders with minus-18 yards, the worst of any NFL team since 2011.
Two Raiders touchdowns came on defenses, one on a fumble after a fumble between Mahomes and Isiah Pacheco and the other on an interception thrown by Mahomes.
“You're seeing glimpses of it,” Mahomes said when asked what gives him reason to believe the Chiefs can fix their offensive problems that have plagued much of the season. “You see us move the football, you see us score in the red zone. We didn't play enough of that at the end of the season. We had a good game, a bad game, a good game, a bad game, but we still have to be consistent because You have to put some things together when you get to the playoffs.”
The Chiefs led the NFL in passing yards and offensive penalties entering Week 16 and were among the league leaders in turnovers.
If you clean it, you can get points, he said. “That's it [that] We need to clean it up. Two more games left. You have to do it, and if we don't, we go home.
“If we clean it up, we can beat anybody. I truly believe that, but we have to prove that we can do it.”
Pacheco, who left Monday's game, was concussed in the second half.
Pacheco returned for the game against the Raiders after missing the previous two games with a shoulder injury. He scored a touchdown on a 12-yard run, but had little impact on his return, rushing 11 times for 26 yards and catching four passes for zero yards.
The Chiefs placed one of their leading rushers, Jerick McKinnon, on injured reserve with a groin injury before the loss. They finished the Raiders game with running backs Clyde Edwards-Helaire and La'Miguel Perine. Perine was signed off the practice squad before the Raiders game to take McKinnon's roster spot.
