"Play Better": Patrick Mahomes Sends Stern Warning After Kansas City Chiefs Suffer First Loss

Patrick Mahomes warns Chiefs after disappointing Seahawks defeat© Instagram/@patrickmahomes

Kansas City came into Seattle at 5-0 and left with its worst offensive night of the Mahomes era. The Chiefs lost 20-3 on Sunday, and Patrick Mahomes finished 19 of 33 for 165 yards with an interception and no touchdowns. The offense never reached the red zone. Afterward, Mahomes stood at the podium and said what most of the building was thinking. He also pointed straight at himself.

Patrick Mahomes on the Seahawks loss: "This s**ks"

Mahomes did not search for a softer way to say it.

"This s**ks. You don't want to perform like this in primetime. You've got to feel it on the plane ride home... You've got to see your mistakes... and try to play better... and find a way to win next week," he said.

He went on to explain what he believes went wrong before the game even started.

"If you don't come ready to play, you can get your tail kicked in this league, we have a young team, it'll be how we respond from this," Mahomes said.

The box score shows why he sounded that way. Kansas City gained 213 yards and scored three points, a total that ESPN Insights says matches the lowest of any of the 153 games Mahomes has started, playoffs included. Seattle's rush got to him on 19 of 36 dropbacks. With Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton out, he had few safe places to throw.

Andy Reid, Kenneth Walker and what Denver means for the Chiefs

Kenneth Walker III had been the Seahawks' Super Bowl MVP a few months earlier, and he managed only 36 yards on 14 carries in his return to the opposite sideline. Mahomes said the Chiefs have to lean on play-action and movement when defenses crowd the line, because teams will keep doing it until someone makes them pay.

Andy Reid did not push any of it onto his players.

"Listen, all three phases we struggled, so we've got to do better, and that's my responsibility," Andy Reid said after the game. "So I take full responsibility for this. We've got to play better as a team."

Next up is Denver. The Chiefs dropped to 5-1, while the Broncos rose to 5-2, so half a game now separates them in the AFC West. A rematch-style test like that, on the road in a division race, leaves little time to sulk.