The magic that once defined a Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs offense is clearly gone in what has turned into a dumpster fire of a season. The star quarterback had the worst game of his career in Sunday's loss to the Houston Texans, which included 10 consecutive incompletions, three interceptions, and a 19.8 passer rating.
It is officially time for Chiefs fans to be worried as the worst version of Mahomes fans have ever seen continues to show up. This is a quarterback whose season has only ended in the AFC Championship Game or in the Super Bowl. Now, the postseason is a pipe dream as Kansas City woke up Monday morning as the AFC's No. 10 seed.
Dating back to the start of November, Mahomes now has more interceptions (6) than touchdown passes (5) in his last four games. Two of those outings feature a completion rate of 42.4% or worse, as well as four occasions with a sub-80 passer rating. No matter how you slice it, that just isn't what fans expect to see when the ball is in No. 15's hands.
Patrick Mahomes Will Be Under the Microscope Down the Stretch
Mahomes' declining performance gives Kansas City fans a deeper concern than just missing the playoffs; they have a quarterback who, for the first time in his career, looks consistently human. It is important to note that Mahomes has been nursing a knee injury; however, this doesn't excuse the level of play and decision-making we've seen from the quarterback.
Mahomes is unable to throw the deep ball consistently, overthrowing his targets. His average depth of target (32.6) only trails the Denver Broncos' Bo Nix (32.9), while the former's 55 deep pass attempts (20-plus yards) are third-most in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus. Although those numbers wouldn't be a problem if Mahomes were hitting his targets, his 34.5% completion rate on these opportunities is only 18th-best among QBs with at least 10 starts.
Kansas City fans need to see Mahomes turn back the clock to who the quarterback has always been. Not the one-score failure that has become an interception machine. Regardless of how many of these were the signal-caller's fault, the level of play simply isn't living up to expectations, and must be corrected for the Chiefs to make the playoffs.
Mahomes needs to get back to playing within the offense and stop attempting to make everything a physical or spectacular play. Running Reid's offense, dinking and dunking your way down the field while mixing in utilizing your legs is exactly how the Chiefs made it to a Super Bowl a season ago without a healthy Rashee Rice.
Bigger than making a long-shot playoff push, Kansas City needs to see this version of the quarterback return. A player capable of taking what's in front of him and not pushing plays that simply aren't there. With Xavier Worthy and Rice both healthy, and other weapons in the mix, there is a far better cast than a season ago, and every reason for Mahomes not to have an excuse to continue with the status quo.
Fair or not, Mahomes is a victim of his own legend, and the veteran isn't anywhere close to living up to it. Something that must change in the season's final weeks is that fans are going to have a very real cause for concern, not just about the direction of their franchise, but a quarterback for the first time in his career appears average.