Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes says he called himself out in front of teammates

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is enduring the worst stretch of his NFL career, and he’s taking full accountability in public and private.

Mahomes admitted Thursday he had said privately to his teammates that he must be better, and he laid the blame squarely on himself for the offense’s performance in last week’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.

“You can just watch the tape and know that I need to play better in order to have success,” Mahomes said, via Adam Teicher of ESPN. “There were plays where guys were open. There were plays where we had matchups down the field that I didn’t hit that I usually would give those guys opportunities to make plays.

“I’ve said something to them that I’ve got to be better. At the same time, they have that mindset that they’re going to try to build me up. It’s a thing where you’re not going to play your best game every single game, and that’s when you have to rely on your other guys to kind of step up and make plays for you.”

Mahomes threw for only 206 yards with an interception and no touchdowns against the Titans, the worst statistical showing of his career. He has already thrown more interceptions in 2021 than he did in all of 2020.

The NFL is all about adapting and outwitting opponents. There’s some evidence that opposing defenses have started to do that to the Chiefs. Now it’s on Mahomes to counter that.