The Kansas City Chiefs certainly have a way of making their fans feel everything. This has been well chronicled on this site and in this series, and it was on full display Monday night in yet another Jekyll-and-Hyde performance against the Washington Commanders. The 28–7 outcome ended up looking like a blowout, but it didn’t come without its fair share of fan (and likely team) discomfort in the first half.
Two first-half interceptions by quarterback Patrick Mahomes could be attributed to both tremendous effort—Marshon Lattimore making an All-World play on a back-shoulder ball to Hollywood Brown—and bad luck on a second pick that floated off the hands of Travis Kelce into the arms of Bobby Wagner. Still, at halftime, we had a tie game that felt like it might be a battle throughout the night. Then the second half came.
Mahomes and the Chiefs offense were nearly perfect on the first three drives of the second half. The defense finally remembered they were playing Marcus Mariota, and all ended with a now-familiar, comfortable victory at Arrowhead Stadium. All’s well that ends well, right?
Let’s dive into some of the takeaways from this game, with both instant reactions from last night and some issues that could rear their heads as long-term concerns as the Chiefs enter a crucial portion of the 2025 schedule.
Jaylon Moore may have turned back into a pumpkin in time for Halloween
Jaylon Moore
Las Vegas Raiders v Kansas City Chiefs - NFL 2025 | Jamie Squire/GettyImages
Jaylon Moore has served the Chiefs extremely well in three games during the absence of rookie Josh Simmons. In fact, two weeks ago, I was clamoring for the Jawaan Taylor experience to (once again) end after Moore’s breakout debut against the Detroit Lions. Why deal with Jawaan’s crap if Jaylon is a stalwart tackle?
Well, last night we finally saw some vulnerability from the young Mr. Moore. Washington defensive end Jacob Martin got hot early in the Commanders’ pass rush and made it difficult in the first half for the Chiefs to get anything going on offense, collecting a first-half sack of Patrick Mahomes and generating plenty of pressure from Moore’s side of the field.
One bad half doesn’t signal that Moore doesn’t have it altogether. Maybe it was just a bad matchup. The Chiefs likely didn’t see as much film of Martin as they’d like — the past two weeks have been his highest snap counts of the season by a decent margin, following injuries to other players along the Washington defensive front.
Moore could come out and have a big impact next week against Buffalo and silence me completely on this, but my fear is that he was indeed a backup coming into the season for a reason. Turns out NFL personnel people and coaches may know more ball than me.
The 2024 Chiefs still live somewhere deep inside this 2025 team
Bobby Wagner
Washington Commanders v Kansas City Chiefs - NFL 2025 | Brooke Sutton/GettyImages
As with the first bullet point, this is a primarily first-half-exclusive feeling. But did you not, at times, feel like you were watching the 2024 team as the first half of last night’s game trudged along?
Sloppy play, the defense looking like their talents were Space Jammed between the 40s, on-target throws careening off of open receivers’ hands into the arms of opportunistic defenders—does any of that ring a bell? Even the score at halftime—tied at 7 points apiece against a mostly hapless Washington team outside of Terry McLaurin—felt like a trip back to 2024.
The 2024 Chiefs were the most notorious of the Mahomes era for playing to the level of their opponents. It didn’t matter if they were in a shootout with a powerhouse or playing a lowly team like the Raiders; the game was going to be tight. You don’t get that many one-score affairs otherwise. That version of the Chiefs briefly showed itself last night in the first half, and I fear that it could come back at a very bad time in the future.
If the Chiefs elect to play that type of lackadaisical football against some of the teams left on their schedule (i.e., the Bills and Colts), we could see a couple more losses before it’s all said and done.
Jack Cochrane makes me want to change my son's name
Jack Cochrane
Detroit Lions v Kansas City Chiefs | Cooper Neill/GettyImages
I, like many millennial dads, love the name Jack so much that I adorned my firstborn son with the moniker. It’s strong, classic, and easy to spell. Realistically, I would not change it for the world, as it fits my son perfectly. However, hypothetically, if Jack Cochrane is flagged for another holding penalty on another electric Nikko Remigio kickoff or punt return, I will be heading to the courthouse.
Jack Cochrane is not a name we should be consistently hearing outside of the context of him coming into a game for an injured starter (please, no), or if he cleans up with a big play in garbage time like he did last night. That was great. But when the flag was thrown on Charles Omenihu for unsportsmanlike conduct after Cochrane made that game-ending interception, I legitimately thought there was a chance the play was nullified because Cochrane had somehow been called for holding after he intercepted the pass and had possession of the football.
Obviously, Steve Spagnuolo and Dave Toub see a lot in this guy. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be occupying a roster spot. And I’m sure he’s a good dude, because his name is Jack. There aren’t a ton of bad Jacks out there — that I can think of anyway. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but if he wrecks another primetime game with more flags, I may be putting out a Twitter poll asking for new name for my kid.
Monday Night Football sucks
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman
Dallas Cowboys vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Perry Knotts/GettyImages
There’s an aura about Monday Night Football that carries much more weight than the actual programming and game time themselves should hold. And, as it was pointed out to me last night in the Arrowhead Addict Slack chat, it’s not a bad thing to have on when your team isn’t playing. But when they are? Think about this objectively for a second:
Is it really that fun to sit around on a Sunday—a day that’s designated for NFL football during the fall—and not watch your team play? Take the bye week out of it. That’s a much-needed, once-annual reprieve from the stress of NFL action. Sundays are made for football. Mondays? They’re made for talking about football and deflecting work at the water cooler. Can you do that talking about an upcoming game? Absolutely. Is that level of distraction the same as basking in the glow of a Sunday afternoon triumph or wallowing in the pity of Sunday night defeat? Hell no.
Monday Night Football wrecks my whole week. As a toddler/baby dad, my household is stabilized by routine. Morning workouts for mom and dad, home from work, dinner time, bath time, bedtime—all during the same times of the day. Starting the week out in that routine is crucial for a successful week all around. Monday Night Football absolutely nukes that routine and can turn the week on its head. Not to mention, by the time you get to talk to anyone else about the game, it’s already Tuesday, and you’re more sleep-deprived than normal, and everyone else is on to the next week.
Add to the fact that we have to listen to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (and whoever the guy from Twitter is that ESPN now has as the official in the booth) drone on about this and that, and it makes it a less-than-enjoyable experience, in my opinion. Borderline torturous. The definitive rankings of game times are below. Obviously subjective, but this is where I’m at in life:
1. Sunday at 3:25
2. Sunday at noon
3. Sunday Night Football
4. Thursday Night Football
5. Monday Night Football
117. Any dumb “during the week” game that the NFL can capitalize on
That was more me getting my disdain for Monday Night Football off my chest than any presentation of facts. If you got off the train a couple of paragraphs ago, thanks for clicking. If you’re still here, you must agree. At least the Chiefs are done with MNF for the year. On to Buffalo.