The Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes entered their matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday hoping to reverse some recent poor fortune.
The Bengals, led by Joe Burrow, swept Mahomes’ Chiefs between a regular season and AFC title game matchup last year. The sting of that latter defeat especially had to be motivating for Mahomes, who was pulling out all the stops to overcome the Bengals this time around. After Cincinnati took a late 27-24 lead on a Chris Evans touchdown, it certainly seemed like this AFC rivalry would have an instant classic in store.
But fate had different ideas.
When the Chiefs’ offense stalled on the ensuing possession — after Mahomes took a sack on a third and short — they asked Harrison Butker to make a 55-yard field goal to tie the game. Unfortunately for Kansas City, he did not.
On the sideline, frustrations seemed to boil over for Mahomes as he slammed his helmet in reaction to the Chiefs’ offense stalling and the Butker miss. (Note: The Bengals outscored the Chiefs 10-0 in the fourth quarter.)
Patrick Mahomes is fighting with his helmet on the side line furious #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/lRc2kw4yGR
— vexan (@treeshardar) December 5, 2022
Before the missed field goal, Patrick Mahomes, after limping off the field, used both of his hands to slam his helmet onto the turf.
— Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) December 5, 2022
Mahomes is typically a cool and calm customer, usually collected in the heat of a clutch moment. But it’s apparent the Chiefs’ growing struggles with the Bengals might be getting to him. After Cincy took away a potential Chiefs’ Super Bowl berth last year, its 27-24 win here knocked Kansas City out of the No. 1 seed spot in the AFC.
Also, the Bengals are now the first team to beat Mahomes three times in his career. That feels … significant:
The Bengals are the first team to beat Patrick Mahomes 3 times including the playoffs in his career.
(via @ESPNStatsInfo)
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) December 5, 2022
There’s no reason to panic about Mahomes and Chiefs in January — they can assuredly hold their own against anybody. That said, it’s abundantly clear they have some work to do in beating the Bengals if they have a playoff rematch next month.