Here’s Most Unmistakable Factor in Whether Chiefs Win or Lose

Needless to say, Mahomes hasn’t thrown a lot to the other team during that period. This season, up until Devin Lloyd’s game-changing takeaway in last week’s loss at Jacksonville, Mahomes had just one interception over his first 167 attempts.

Last week, the interception was especially painful not simply because it resulted in a 14-point swing after Lloyd’s 99-yard touchdown. It also came after two three-and-outs, and at the end of a methodical 11-play drive consuming more than six minutes in a tie game.

Plenty of positives

“There's good within there that we're doing,” offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said Thursday. “We like that. We can build but it's the situational stuff. When you have a game like that, you want to take advantage of. We didn't do that. I think the beauty of who we are is we stick together. We learn from it, and we got to correct it.”

They corrected it on Monday night. After that third-quarter interception, Mahomes led the Chiefs on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives, the last of which – a 12-play, 86-yard march consuming most of the final eight minutes -- appeared to ice a Kansas City win when Kareem Hunt landed in the end zone.

“We wanted to do our part,” Nagy explained, “after giving up that pick-six, of going down there and making sure that we put together a good drive. Right before that, the defense got a pick, and we went in and took advantage of that.”

Both 2025 interceptions have been at the opponent goal line. The other was the excruciating turnover that bounced off Travis Kelce and into the hands of Eagles rookie Andrew Mukuba.

The difference this season, compared to last

Last season, Mahomes threw only two interceptions over a 429-pass stretch from Oct. 27 until Cooper DeJean picked off his pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. His only two interceptions in that stretch came in his only loss, a 30-21 setback at Buffalo on Nov. 17.

The stark difference this year, compared to 2024, is that Mahomes is limiting interceptions while being aggressive. Last year, he took deep shots and threw into tight windows at a much lower rate than 2025.

Case in point, last week Mahomes took a chance in the first quarter, absorbing a shot from blitzing safety Andrew Wingard, and Tyquan Thornton turned it into a critical 32-yard reception.

“And I've always been of the mindset,” Mahomes said Wednesday, “if they're going to blitz, we got to be aggressive and throw the ball down the field. That’s your best opportunity to do that, and so give a guy a chance down the field. And Tyquan, I didn't get it far enough, but Tyquan did a great job coming back and adjusting to the ball and making a play.”