21 November 2023
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs suffered a dawning 21-17 loss on Monday night to the Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl.
The game started with three and outs from both teams in the first four minutes.
Once the Chiefs got the ball back, they used a 10-play, 80-yard drive to end with quarterback Patrick Mahomes finding a wide-open Justin Watson in the end zone for a three-yard touchdown.
The Eagles responded with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive of their own near the end of the first quarter with running back D’Andre Swift scoring on a four-yard TD run.
After a Chiefs punt, the teams traded interceptions with cornerback L’Jarius Sneed collecting one at the KC 30-yard line and Eagles safety Kevin Byard picking off Mahomes in the end zone at the end of a nine-yard drive.
A Kadarius Toney 21-yard punt return set the Chiefs up for a 45-yard drive that ended with a Mahomes four-yard TD pass to tight end Travis Kelce to help the Chiefs take a 14-7 lead with less than two minutes to go.
A three-and-out and a 16-yard Toney punt return inched the Chiefs close to field goal range with 44 seconds left and they ended the half with a 43-yard field goal from Harrison Butker to take a 17-7 lead into the half.
Butker remains perfect on the season with 19 made field goals and 24 made PATs.
The Chiefs’ defense had five sacks in the first half, two a piece by cornerback Trent McDuffie and defensive tackle Chris Jones and one from defensive end George Karlaftis. They limited the Eagles to 78 total yards in the first half as well along with an interception.
In the second half, the defensive battle continued with the Chiefs missing several opportunities to advance drives on third downs.
The Eagles cut their deficit to three with a 10-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jalen Hurts after being set up in the red zone off of a Swift 35-yard run.
As the Chiefs drove into the red zone early in the fourth quarter, a Kelce fumble ended the drive and gave the Eagles the ball back.
The Chiefs defense held the Eagles to a three-and-out but KC opted to punt on the next drive from the Philly 39-yard line that went for a touchback.
The Eagles used a seven-play, 80-yard drive to score in two minutes and take a 21-17 lead with less than seven minutes left.
Kansas City got the ball back with less than three minutes to go on their own nine-yard line.
A dropped ball from wide-open Marquez Valdes-Scantling right after the two-minute warning encapsulated the drive as the Chiefs failed to convert 4th and 25 from their own 35.
The Chiefs outgained the Eagles 336-238, outpaced them in third down conversions (8/17 compared to 3/10) but had two turnovers compared to the Eagles’ one.
Mahomes ended the night with 177 yards (one of the lowest single-game outputs of his career), two TDs and one INT. Isiah Pacheco ruled the ground game with 89 yards.
Watson led the receiving yards with 53 yards on five catches and a TD while Kelce garnered 44 yards on seven catches with a TD and a fumble.
The Chiefs are now 7-3, second in the AFC, and are on the road on Thanksgiving weekend to face bitter AFC West rival Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at 3:25 p.m.