LANDOVER, Md. — Quarterback Patrick Mahomes wound up throwing for two touchdowns and 397 yards during the Kansas City Chiefs‘ 31-13 win over the Washington Foootball Team on Sunday. But like seemingly everything with Mahomes and the Chiefs this year, there’s a story on how he got there.
And that story is filled with turnovers. Mahomes threw another two interceptions in the first half, giving him eight on the season — two more than he had in all of 2020.
He was blameless on one, as Tyreek Hill deflected it to a Washington defender — the third time Mahomes has been intercepted this season after a pass deflected off a member of the Chiefs. On the other, Mahomes forced a throw to tight end Travis Kelce to avoid a sack but got nothing on the throw and it fluttered to Washington cornerback Bobby McCain.
“That was bad,” Mahomes said. “First off, I dropped the snap trying to get out of there too fast to get it to Darrel [Williams]. I picked it up and was going to run outside and then I saw Trav, and then the rest you can kind of see. It was bad.
“It’s probably going to be on ‘C’mon, Man,’ or something like that.”
But unlike the Chiefs’ recent games against the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills, the Chiefs eventually turned things around. Mahomes completed 19 of 24 passes for 175 yards and both of his touchdowns in the second half.
“The biggest thing is guys keep believing in me,” Mahomes said. “That was a big thing to me. Orlando [Brown], Travis, Tyreek [Hill], all of those guys came right up to me and were like, ‘You keep being you. We know you’re competing. We know who you are. Don’t let that one thing affect how you play.’
“You saw it in the second half. I kept throwing across my body and doing a lot of different types of stuff because I know those guys believe in me, and I’m going to keep fighting until the end. I move on to the next play. In this league, you’re going to go through adversity. We’ve been blessed enough that I haven’t had to deal with a lot of that early in my career.
“I’ve had a lot of interceptions this year. It’s not a secret. You just have to be able to move on. You just have to keep playing, because at the end of the day, the interceptions are on the stat sheet, but if you win the game, nobody cares.”
The Chiefs had a third first-half turnover, a fumble by Mecole Hardman. They have 12 turnovers in their past four games and their 14 turnovers on the season are the worst in the NFL. But turnovers are correctable, which has coach Andy Reid feeling optimistic about what the Chiefs can be if they quit turning it over so frequently.
“We’re going to get it turned around,” Reid said. “Then it will be a pretty nice picture.”