Turnovers a teachable moment for both the Chiefs and Mahomes
LOS ANGELES — Patrick Mahomes threw for the most yards in the National Football League this season and had his second six-touchdown game. But it is the five turnovers the Kansas City quarterback committed that led to the Chiefs dropping their second game this season.
Mahomes threw three interceptions and had two fumbles in Monday night’s 54-51 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at the LA Memorial Coliseum. Three of the turnovers resulted in Rams touchdowns, including a fumble and interception return for TDs by Rams linebacker Samson Ebukam.
“I gave them 21 points through turnovers,” said Mahomes, who completed 33 of 46 passes for 478 yards. “It sucks right now, plain and simple. You wanted a win like that over a playoff team.”
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said the Marcus Peters interception with 1:18 remaining was mostly the result of pressure by Ebukam. The last one, which was picked off by LaMarcus Joyner with 13 seconds remaining at the Rams 28, was Mahomes trying to make a play late.
The two fumbles were the results of strip sacks by Aaron Donald, who has a leagueleading 14.5 sacks.
“He’s made enough of those plays where you have full trust in him,” Reid said. “We always talk about protecting the ball and he usually does a good job of that.”
For a team that has high post-season aspirations, one concern could be that most of Mahomes’ interceptions have come against quality defences. Besides the three against the Rams, he threw two in a loss to New England on Oct. 14 and two against Jacksonville on Oct. 7.
For Mahomes, the lessons from this loss were the same as when the Chiefs lost to the Patriots 43-40 on Oct. 14: You can’t make mistakes against good teams.
Kansas City goes into the bye at 9-2 and with the best record in the AFC. Reid and Conley are confident that Mahomes will be ready for the December stretch drive.
“Patrick is a gamer. We are behind him and we know he will bounce back from this and get better,” Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley said.