In the Week 5 episode of “Monday Night Football,” the Kansas City Chiefs dropped a 31-28 decision to the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium.
The Chiefs started strong
The Kansas City offense shrugged off the punt that ended its first drive — which was made easier by the defense forcing punts on the Jaguars’ first two drives. The Chiefs moved out to a 14-0 lead on two drives that were highlighted by long passes to wide receiver Tyquan Thornton and the game’s longest run: a 33-yard rumble by running back Kareem Hunt.
In
between those drives, Jacksonville drove downfield, finding itself with a first-and-goal at the Kansas City 7-yard line. But on three straight plays, the defense held. On fourth down at the 1-yard line, the Jaguars went for broke — and as quarterback Trevor Lawrence tried to extend the ball across the goal line on a quarterback sneak, linebacker Nick Bolton pushed the other way. The ball came out of Lawrence’s hands before it could cross the plane, sending the Jaguars’ offense to the sideline empty-handed.
It seemed like the Chiefs were headed for a blowout.
Momentum changed on an unusual play
But on its next possession, Jacksonville moved across midfield — and then on a first-and-10 from the Kansas City 34-yard line, Lawrence targeted Tim Patrick on a deep throw. Cornerback Trent McDuffie broke up the catch. The ball bounced high into the air. Neither Bolton or linebacker Drue Tranquill could come up with the catch that would have ended the Jaguars’ drive.
From that moment on, Kansas City couldn’t maintain control of the game.
Six plays later, Lawrence found wideout Parker Washington for a 3-yard touchdown pass that narrowed the Chiefs’ lead to 14-7. Those were the first of 21 unanswered points that gave the Jaguars a 21-14 lead in the third quarter.
The last of these came from what has become a signature play in Jacksonville: at the end of a long third-quarter drive, Mahomes targeted wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on a second-and-goal at the Jacksonville 3-yard line. But Devin Lloyd intercepted the pass and rumbled 99 yards to give the Jaguars the lead.
But shortly afterward, Kansas City would return the favor. Early in the fourth quarter, McDuffie intercepted Lawrence deep in Jacksonville territory. After Mahomes found tight end Travis Kelce with a 16-yard pass, Hunt recorded a 5-yard touchdown run to tie the game.
The Chiefs thought they were back in the driver’s seat after holding the Jaguars to a field goal — and then executing a 12-play, 86-yard touchdown drive that gave Kansas City a 28-24 lead with 1:45 left in the game. But after Harrison Butker’s kickoff went out of bounds — giving the Jaguars the ball at their own 40 — Lawrence had no trouble getting his team into scoring position.
With 38 seconds left, the Chiefs thought they had won the game by intercepting Lawrence in the end zone — but safety Chamarri Conner had been flagged for pass interference. With a fresh set of downs at the 1-yard line, Lawrence turned a botched snap into a game-winning touchdown run that sent the Chiefs home with a 2-3 record.
In some ways, the Chiefs played brilliantly — but mistakes doomed them
Going into this game, most observers expected that Jacksonville would run the ball down Kansas City’s throat and control the game with turnovers. But the Chiefs gained 158 yards on the ground, held the Jaguars to just 109 and won the turnover battle. Rookie running back Brashard Smith had a 63-yard kickoff return. Lawrence had been sacked just three times all season, but Kansas City added three more to his total. Meanwhile, the Chiefs’ offensive line played very well. Mahomes was never sacked — and usually had all the time he needed to throw. The defense’s second-quarter goal-line stand was a thing of beauty.
If that’s all you knew about Monday night’s game, you might have concluded Kansas City had won.
But the Chiefs committed 13 penalties — 4 of them on special teams. One of those wiped out Smith’s long kickoff return, which happened right after the Jaguars took their first lead of the game. The Chiefs ran eight plays, but punted before reaching the point where Smith had been tackled — a spot that was within Butker’s field-goal range. The placekicker’s out-of-bounds kickoff was another crucial penalty — as was Conner’s DPI call that handed the Jaguars their final touchdown. And after the game, Mahomes admitted that Jacksonville had simply fooled him with a smart defensive play-call.
If any of those plays had turned out differently, the Chiefs might have come home with a win. But they didn’t — and for that, they have no one to blame but themselves.
