The Kansas City Chiefs had their chances during Sunday’s 28–21 loss the Buffalo Bills. They just couldn’t finish them.
The team struggled to find consistency on both sides of the ball. The offense stalled on third downs, the defense couldn’t come up with key stops — and in a game defined by small margins, a missed scoring opportunity before halftime proved costly.
“Against a team like this, you got to get off the field defensively, and you got to be able to stay on the field offensively and score touchdowns,
not field goals,” head coach Andy Reid told reporters after the game. “It was great for [Harrison] Butker to make them, for sure — but you want touchdowns in those situations.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes finished 15-of-34 for 250 yards and one interception. His 15 completions were the lowest from in any game in his career — a credit to the Buffalo defensive front, which sacked him three times and kept him under pressure for most of the afternoon.
“They had a really good plan,” he admitted during his time with the press. “They have good pass rushers and made a good plan of doing some games and stuff up front and pushing the pocket. So [it’s a] credit to them: they had a great plan, they have great players and they made a lot of great plays today.”
Third-down efficiency told part of the story — Kansas City went just 3-of-13, while Buffalo converted 7-of-12 — but red-zone execution ultimately decided the game. The Bills were a perfect 3-of-3 in their trips inside the 20, while the Chiefs went 2-of-3. Their lone missed opportunity came just before halftime.
Down 21-10 with 46 seconds left in the half, Mahomes hit Hollywood Brown for a 40-yard completion that came up just short of a touchdown at the Buffalo 1-yard line. The Chiefs had three chances to score from there but failed to punch it in, settling for a field goal to make it 21-13 at the break.
It was a key moment that could’ve swung momentum in the Chiefs’ favor — especially with Kansas City set to receive the second-half kickoff. Instead, the Chiefs went three-and-out on their opening drive of the third quarter — and didn’t score again until midway through the fourth quarter.
“You’ve got to score a touchdown,” Reid explained. “You don’t want to come out with a field goal. Although within it, we were still within striking distance, so it wasn’t like we didn’t have opportunities. You can’t start the second half the way we did. That’s my responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen — and it did.”
Mahomes echoed that frustration, emphasizing that missed chances in the red zone and the slow start to the second half proved costly.
“We’ve got to find a way to get in the end zone,” he declared. “I’ve got to be better there — and situationally, we’ve got to be better. I thought we had a couple of those where we didn’t really execute at a high-enough level, and that’s probably why we got the loss.”
Meanwhile, Josh Allen made the Chiefs pay with an ultra-efficient performance. The Bills quarterback completed 23-of-26 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown, adding 19 rushing yards and two scores on the ground. Running back James Cook piled up 114 yards on 27 carries, helping Buffalo control time of possession and keep Kansas City’s defense off balance.
“They got the run game going,” Reid noted. “Then, right when you think they’re going to run, they come back with play action or a naked [bootleg]. They did a good job with that.”
The loss sends Kansas City into its bye week at 5–4 — still in contention, but no longer in command like they’ve been used to in years past. For Mahomes and the Chiefs, the focus now is on correcting mistakes quickly to keep pace in a tightening playoff race.
“We got a lot of good teams in our division, and they’re playing really good football,” Mahomes said. “We’re down there at third place right now, so we’ve got to get back in and get ourselves right. We’ve got to play better football. Right after the bye, we’re playing Denver, so that will be a huge game for us.”
Mahomes wasn’t wrong. But now that the team has recorded four losses over nine games, there are probably very few games on the Chiefs’ remaining schedule that can’t be described as “huge.”
