The Kansas City Chiefs took a 27-19 loss in a crucial matchup against the Green Bay Packers.
The Chiefs are now 8-4 and have taken several tough losses over the last few weeks, including a 24-9 loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 8 and a 21-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11. What’s going wrong for the Chiefs?
Kansas City Chiefs Struggle in Green Bay
The Packers took home their third win in a row and fourth in five weeks, which has them at 6-6 and currently sitting as one of the Wild Card teams in the conference.
MORE: NFL Playoff Picture Week 13
Green Bay started hot as they scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the game. At the half, they were up 14-6 after holding the Chiefs to just a pair of field goals while Jordan Love found Ben Sims and Christian Watson for one- and nine-yard touchdowns in the first and second quarters, respectively.
The Chiefs responded and opened the second half with a drive that ended in an Isiah Pacheco touchdown run to get within two points.
Love answered with a 12-yard pass to Christian Watson, but Patrick Mahomes came right back as he hit Noah Gray for a two-yard score to get within two points again early in the fourth quarter.
The Packers then got into scoring position, and the Chiefs ended up forcing a field goal.
Kansas City then went on what looked to be a potentially game-winning drive, but Mahomes’ pass was picked off by Keisean Nixon.
#Packers DB Keisean Nixon comes up with the fourth quarter interaction off Patrick Mahomes 👀 pic.twitter.com/NxDHsvplmZ
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) December 4, 2023
After the devastating interception, the Packers ran the clock down and made a 48-yard field goal. Green Bay got one last stop in a drive filled with several questionable calls from the refs to secure the win.
Love finished 25-of-36 passing for 267 yards and three touchdowns. Watson was the most targeted receiver on the night, seeing nine throws from Love and catching seven for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Mahomes completed 21 of his 33 passes for 210 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Pacheco, who was ejected from the game for a late penalty, finished with 110 rushing yards and a touchdown in the loss.
The Chiefs needed a win to reclaim the AFC’s top seed. With the Baltimore Ravens on their bye, a win would have put them back in control.
Three of the Chiefs’ four losses are to NFC opponents this year, so things are not looking too bad in the AFC playoff picture. But they will need more help to compete for the No. 1 spot in the conference. A win would have eliminated that. But what went wrong in the loss?
Injuries gave the team some trouble. The Chiefs came into Week 13 already without running back Jerick McKinnon on offense and linebacker Nick Bolton on defense. Drue Tranquill went down in the first quarter and had to go into concussion protocol, and the Chiefs were without their top two linebackers.
The first half was sloppy for Kansas City as they failed to capitalize and had to settle for field goals after dropped passes and red zone struggles.
While the Chiefs showed some fight in the second half, they came up short due to the mistakes made in the first half, and of course, the interception thrown by Mahomes that about sealed the deal.
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