The Kansas City Chiefs flashed greatness at times on Monday night, but in between those moments of greatness, the Chiefs were also an embarrassingly self-destructive dumpster fire. Patrick Mahomes threw a 99-yard pick-six. The defense gave up 31 points despite causing a couple of turnovers, and somehow neither of those things was the most frustrating part of the game for Chiefs fans. That honor went to the mind-boggling number of penalty flags that rained down on the EverBank Stadium field like some massive yellow hurricane hitting Jacksonville.
There’s a false narrative around the NFL that the Kansas City Chiefs “get all the calls.” This belief was fueled even more in Week 5 by a missed pass interference call on Jaden Hicks that led to a Trent McDuffie interception. However, that theory ignores the fact that the Chiefs were flagged an unbelievable 13 times for 109 yards against the Jaguars. Chiefs fans could be like the fans of the other 31 teams and whine about the calls, but if we’re being honest, most of K.C.’s penalties were due to sloppy play, a lack of concentration, and an unbelievable lack of awareness.
The penalty-plagued Chiefs beat themselves in sloppy Monday night loss to the Jags
The Chiefs’ offense had illegal formation, holding, and delay of game penalties that helped stall out drives. The defense had its own penalties, including a pass interference call on Chamarri Conner in the end zone that set up Trevor Lawrence’s ridiculous game-winning touchdown run. However, the worst offenders by far were the special teams penalties. The illegal blocks and holds on returns hurt K.C.’s field position all night, and Harrison Butker’s kickoff going out of bounds to give the Jags a short field for the game-winning drive was an absolute game-changer.
The Chiefs got off to a rocky start this season but had gained some momentum with wins over the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens. Early on, that momentum seemed to carry over, and K.C. jumped out to a 14-0 lead. But over the course of a game, if you play sloppy and undisciplined football, you open the door for the other team to get back in the game—and that’s exactly what happened to the Chiefs in Week 5. The penalties are a major reason why.
After the game, Andy Reid addressed the penalties: “We had 13 penalties to their 4. Whether I agree with them or don’t agree with them, it doesn’t matter. They called them. So you have that many penalties, you give up field position, you can out-stat them to death, but that doesn’t matter. It’s the score that matters.”
This is a mixed bag from Reid. While he does clearly state that having that many penalties will cost you the game, the opening part sounds like complaining about how the game was called. Again, there are always going to be debatable calls, but Reid needs to take more ownership of his team’s mistakes and not make excuses. The refs didn’t cost the Chiefs the game (especially with the missed pass interference call against Hicks). The Chiefs cost the Chiefs the game.
There was a popular one-hit wonder in the ’90s called “My Own Worst Enemy” by the band Lit. The song includes the following lyrics: "It's no surprise to me, I am my own worst enemy. Cause every now and then I kick the living $#*! out of me."
Those lyrics perfectly sum up the Kansas City Chiefs’ performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night. Credit to the Jags—they made the plays to win the game—but time and time again, the Chiefs set them up to make those plays with stupid penalties. Andy Reid can talk about agreeing or disagreeing with them all he wants.
The bottom line is he’d better get them cleaned up fast because the Detroit Lions are coming to town. If the Chiefs are still their own worst enemy, things are only going to get uglier.