Close loss doesn’t discourage Mahomes

KANSAS CITY The Kansas City Chiefs trudged into the lockerroom after their first loss with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, a streak that goes back six games to his Week 17 start last season.

Here’s the thing, though: There was no sense of defeat in Gillette Stadium on Sunday night.

Instead, the Chiefs seemed downright emboldened by the way they fought back from a big halftime hole against New England. And if not for a litany of injuries and another clutch game by Tom Brady and the Patriots, which drove downfield in the final minutes for a 43-40 victory, the Chiefs might have kept their streak going.

“We got down, we put ourselves in a huge hole and I’m just proud of my team and how we fought to get back in the game,” Mahomes said. “We had the lead at one point and then we ended up not coming out with the win but just that fight, it’s something you can carry on and to the rest of this season.”

The way the Chiefs performed under the lights in New England may have been more than just the stereotypical moral victory.

Mahomes threw two interceptions in the first half, when Bill Belichick’s defence seemed to have him confused. The Chiefs’ running game was going nowhere and a defence missing pass rusher Justin Houston and its top three safeties to injuries looked like a sieve.

It was 24-9 at the break and could have been a whole lot worse.

But for the first time in his budding career, Mahomes was forced to make massive in-game adjustments and did so successfully. He threw four second-half touchdowns and put up 31 points.