Chiefs fail to execute and fall to Texans 20-10 making playoff hopes dwindle more

By MATT PIKE

While there is still a chance, the lights are beginning to dim on the Kansas City Chiefs making an 11th consecutive trip to the playoffs after a series of miscues led to a 20-10 loss the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football.

 Some odds have the Chiefs chances as low as 12% to make the playoffs, others are around 16%, but most are below the 20% chance mark.  Despite the low odds, defensive tackle Chris Jones says they still have an opportunity, even if it is a slim opportunity

“Still got an opportunity, and we’ve got to finish strong, no matter what we’ve got to finish strong to put ourself in a position to be able to get in the playoffs if that opportunity presents itself,” Jones says during his postgame press conference.  “So, for us the door is still open, it might be a 10% chance, it might be a 5% chance, but as long as we’ve got an opportunity and a chance, then we still can control that and finish strong and let the cards fall where they fall.”

Head Coach Andy Reid says the message to the team after the loss is that it’s never over

“You keep battling, I’ve been doing this a long time, seen some things, so you keep going,” Reid says.

The loss did end Kansas City’s streak of nine consecutive AFC West titles, the second longest streak in NFL history.   With a run of success close to ending, linebacker Nick Bolton says the team needs to respond to this loss by controlling the controllable. 

“We’ve got four weeks left, one week at a time, we need some help from other people but my mindset is put our best foot forward and take care of what we can control,” Bolton says in the locker room.

Leo Chenal echoes that sentiment, saying now it’s all up to them.

“Message is go out and play top level football as best you can, with the best effort you can, at the highest level you can regardless,” Chenal explains.  “Whatever happens, we better be out there playing our hardest, especially now, it’s not in our hands but we better be playing our hardest.”

The Chiefs fell behind 10-0 at the halftime break thanks to a 35 yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn and a nine yard touchdown pass from CJ Stroud to Woody Marks.  On the first play of the game, an already thin offensive line for Kansas City got thinner, as Wanya Morris exited the game with a knee injury.  Also in the first quarter, cornerback Trent McDuffie suffered a knee injury that put him out of the game. 

Despite the injuries, and some miscues in the first half including an interception and a missed field goal, the Chiefs came back to tie the game in the third quarter.  Kareem Hunt rushed in from two yards out on a 4th and 1 play to cut the lead to three early in the quarter, and then near the end of the frame Harrison Butker hit a 36 yard field goal to tie the game heading into the final quarter. 

But after a quarter of execution to tie the game, things fell apart in the fourth for Kansas City.  Patrick Mahomes threw his second interception of the game early in the quarter, which did turn into a punt from Houston, but then a turnover on downs from the Chiefs gave the Texans the chance to score the go ahead touchdown on a five yard run by Dare Ogunbowale.  

Trailing by a touchdown, Kansas City turned the ball over on downs again, and Houston would end up punting the ball back, but again Mahomes threw an interception, the ball bouncing off the hands of Travis Kelce and into linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.  Fairbairn knocked through a 28 yard field goal to put the Texans up by two scores with 30 seconds remaining, and after three plays with no timeouts from the Chiefs, the game came to an end. 

Mahomes was 14-of-33 through the air for 160 yards with three interceptions, adding seven rushes for 59 yards.  Hunt rushed 12 times for 30 yards and the score.  Xavier Worthy had three catches for 59 yards, while Rashee Rice was the leading receiver with four catches for 34 yards. 

The Chiefs will host the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday in an AFC West battle with a lot on the line. A loss in that matchup, and their run to the AFC playoffs could come to an end.  Kickoff will be at noon with an 11am pregame on Q Country (92.7FM).

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.