Chiefs’ ugly preseason trend creates unexpected concern around Patrick Mahomes

The Kansas City Chiefs’ winless preseason record deserves little attention. Their repeated inability to finish promising possessions, however, creates an unexpected concern around Patrick Mahomes before his return from a serious knee injury.

Kansas City followed a 20–12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams by falling 16–15 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night. The Chiefs have generated enough offense to move the ball in both games. Crossing the goal line has been a far more complicated assignment.

Chiefs keep settling for field goals

Kansas City failed to score an offensive touchdown in its preseason opener. Rookie running back Emmett Johnson appeared to change that with a four-yard touchdown run, only for a holding penalty to erase the play.

The Chiefs finally ended their preseason touchdown drought against Tampa Bay when Johnson scored from three yards out in the fourth quarter. Before that, Harrison Butker had supplied all nine of their points by making field goals from 26, 48 and an absurd 69 yards.

A 69-yard field goal is entertaining. Depending on a kicker to casually break an NFL record is not a sustainable offensive plan.

The Chiefs reached Tampa Bay territory on five of their first six possessions but entered halftime leading only 9–0. Justin Fields completed nine of 12 passes, yet Kansas City averaged just 5.3 yards per attempt with him behind center. One possession ended when Fields was strip-sacked after Kansas City had crossed midfield.

Penalties, protection failures and short completions have repeatedly stalled drives. Those mistakes occurred with several starters sitting out, so declaring the regular-season offense broken would be ridiculous. Preseason football is already audition tape dressed up as competition.

Still, the pattern is difficult to ignore. Kansas City has scored 27 points across eight quarters while producing one offensive touchdown.

Patrick Mahomes cannot be asked to fix everything

Mahomes did not play against Tampa Bay and has yet to appear this preseason. Andy Reid has remained cautious while his quarterback returns from the significant knee injury he suffered last December.

That caution makes perfect sense. It also leaves Kansas City without an opportunity to see its full offense operate against an opposing defense before Week 1.

Mahomes has participated fully during training camp and reportedly wants to play. Whether he appears against the Seattle Seahawks in the preseason finale remains undecided. The Chiefs cannot learn much from risking him behind a shuffled offensive line, especially with Trey Smith and Josh Simmons currently sidelined.

The larger concern is what Mahomes will inherit when the real games begin.

Kansas City missed the playoffs last season and cannot expect its quarterback to immediately erase every penalty, missed assignment or failed red-zone possession after major knee surgery. His ability to rescue ugly drives has covered plenty of offensive flaws over the years. Asking him to do it again immediately would be a dangerous assumption.

The Chiefs have one preseason game remaining to clean up the details around him. Nobody should care whether they defeat Seattle. Producing touchdowns without requiring Mahomes to perform weekly sorcery would be far more encouraging.

Kansas City’s 0–2 record will disappear when the regular season begins. Its habit of wasting productive possessions could follow it there.