The Rams scored 54 points on Monday night. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes knows that, but for him, the total would have been only 33.
“The turnovers just changed the game,” Mahomes told reporters after Kansas City’s second loss of the season. “I think I gave them 21 points, pretty much, through turnovers. It’s kind of just like at the New England game, you can’t give good teams points turning the ball over.”
The loss left Mahomes feeling not so great as the Chiefs commence a Thanksgiving weekend bye.
“It sucks right now, I mean it’s plain and simple,” Mahomes said. “You wanted to go win that game going into the bye week against a good team like that, a playoff team. But at the same time we still control our own destiny. We can go out there and win football games after the bye week. It’s kind of like that reset, get your body right and come back with that mentality that we’re gonna win and we can still get home field advantage, hopefully.”
The Chiefs have benefited from recent losses by the Patriots, who are chasing Kansas City for the top spot in the conference, and the Chargers, who are chasing Kansas City for the top spot in the division.
Still, it won’t be easy for Mahomes to forget about a high-scoring classic that already has drawn comparisons to the 66-59 Oklahoma win over Texas Tech when Mahomes played for the Red Raiders. Mahomes doesn’t see the games as similar, due again to his mistakes -- and their consequences.
“Someone asked me that earlier,” Mahomes said. “It didn’t really, for the most part. I mean if I don’t give them the 21 points the score isn’t as high probably either way. So just little mistakes that I made is just stuff you can’t do.”
Mahomes ended the game with five turnovers -- two fumbles, three interceptions, and a bright line to 21 Rams points because of those mistakes. It was an uncharacteristically sloppy performance from an MVP candidate who may have lost some of his luster on Monday night, and who has five games left to make his case: at Oakland, Baltimore, L.A. Chargers, at Seattle, Oakland.
