The Kansas City Chiefs suffered their first loss of the season in epic fashion. Kansas City never stood a chance in a 20-3 blowout loss against Seattle in Week 7. The Chiefs had one of their worst offensive performances in recent memory and only managed to make one field goal throughout the entire game.
In fairness, both teams came into this game with incredibly different stakes. Kansas City was cruising at 5-0 and everything had been going right for them. Meanwhile, Seattle was in crisis after falling to 3-3 and looking like their season could slip away. But that meant that the Seahawks were simply the hungrier team, and they delivered a signature win as a result.
So what exactly went wrong for Kansas City in this one? And what lesson can they take away from this brutal loss?
Here are the Chiefs most to blame for their complete no-show against the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football.
Patrick Mahomes had an all-time bad game in Week 7
It is not hyperbole to say that Sunday's game was one of the worst in Patrick Mahomes' entire career.
The legendary quarterback went 19-of-33 for 165 passing yards with zero touchdowns and one interception. Just looking at the raw accounting stats, it is clear that this was one of Mahomes' worst performances.
Perhaps the most damning stat is that Mahomes failed to reach the red zone at all against Seattle. It is the only time that has happened in his 152 career starts in Kansas City.
Mahomes admitted that he did not help Kenneth Walker III succeed very much in Week 7.
“We have to help him. I think that’s the biggest thing,” Mahomes said after the game, per The Athletic's Jesse Newell. “When they put so many eggs in that basket of stopping the run game, we have to have the play-action game and the movement game to be able to throw the ball.”
On one hand, the Chiefs were going up against arguably the best defense in the entire NFL. So it is understandable that they would struggle against an elite unit. Still, the Chiefs will need Mahomes and the rest of their superstars on offense to play better in high-leverage games later this season.
Kenneth Walker III couldn't consistently move the ball against Seattle's ‘Dark Side' defense
With Mahomes and the passing attack struggling, that left Walker as Kansas City's only hope of sustaining their offense. Unfortunately, Seattle knows better than any other team how to slow down their former Super Bowl MVP.
Seattle put a lid on Walker, keeping the explosive running back from getting into any rhythm. Walker had 14 carries for 36 rushing yards in Week 7. That is good for only 2.6 yards per carry and his longest run of the day went just seven yards. The Seahawks prevented Walker from ripping off explosive runs and from moving the chains at a consistent clip.
Kansas City's offensive line deserves most of the blame for Walker's quiet night. He often had nowhere to run, making it impossible to make big plays. Remember, Walker thrives at making defenders miss tackles to create extra yards. But that can't happen when Walker is consistently getting hit behind the line of scrimmage.
It was so bad by the end of the game that Walker did not spend time with his former teammates on the field during handshake time.
Chiefs fans shouldn't worry too much about Walker after this one. But it will be concerning if he has another middling performance against Denver next weekend.
Kansas City committed too many costly mistakes against a hungry Seattle team
At the end of the day, the Chiefs just made too many mistakes to come out on top.
Article Continues BelowHarrison Butker missed field goals, going 1-of-3 on the evening. Those six points may not have changed the result of this game, but they could've changed how the Chiefs called plays throughout large stretches of this game.
The Chiefs were absolutely shredded in the margins too. Third-down conversions tell the story perfectly.
Kansas City went 3-for-11 on third-down attempts, consistently failing to sustain drives. Mahomes and the Chiefs could not get rolling because they were never on the field for long.
Meanwhile, Seattle went an incredible 11-for-16 on third-down attempts. According to Next Gen Stats, that ties the second-most successes in a game since play-by-play data started being tracked in 1991.
Ultimately, Sunday's game was a complete failure by the Chiefs on offense, defense, and special teams. Head coach Andy Reid took full responsibility for not having his guys prepared for primetime.
“All three phases, we struggled. So we’ve got to do better, and that’s my responsibility,” Reid said, per Newell. “I take full responsibility for this. We’ve got to play better as a team.”
Hopefully the Chiefs look more like themselves in Week 8 against the Broncos.