After losing a couple of games that the Chiefs could have won, they needed to do some soul searching. After Sunday’s win over the Eagles, quarterback Patrick Mahomes explained the differences between the losses in Week Two and Three and the victory in Week Four.
“I think it was just our attitude and our mindset,” Mahomes told PFT by phone after the game. “I think we knew that especially last week but even the week before we didn’t execute to the level that we wanted to, especially at the end of the game. And so we just kind of preached that throughout the week. It was finishing every drill, it was finishing every practice, finishing the meeting room. And so when we got in the game today even after I threw the dumb interception that I threw, I think guys stepped right back up and we moved on and we kind of made it happen. I thought it was big of us to kind of do that to get to a hostile environment against a good football team.”
Mahomes was asked whether the team had gotten a little complacent about its ability to pull out late victories.
“I think it is a little bit,” Mahomes said. “I think it’s just kind of we expect it to happen without even having to put in the work to kind of put ourselves in the position to do that. I mean, at times we’ve been able to do it. We’ve been able to rely on kind of our just us making plays happen and making things happen at the end of the game. I think you see now is the defenses are going to make us drive the entire field. They’re going to make us go down one by one and be surgical as we kind of make these drives to try to win games. And I think this week showed that we can do that, especially as we ran the football. It shows that we’re a more balanced offense and can do everything.”
Mahomes said that, as his career continues, defenses are more committed to taking away the deep shot and forcing him to be patient.
“I think us being able to run the football the way we’ve been able run it these last few weeks will be crucial on us getting defenses to come up and have to respect the run game,” Mahomes said. “And so as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized you can’t just throw it like you can’t throw it like it’s the Big 12 every single time. You’ve got to be able to run the football and that sets up the pass and I think will kind of help us as a lot the season goes on.”
The next big test comes on Sunday night, when the Bills come to town. Currently, the Bills are the closest thing the NFL has to a dominant team. However, the Bills also have been unable to best the Chiefs.