KC Chiefs Focused On Quickly Moving Past Tough Loss to Buffalo Bills

Following a Week 7 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, the Kansas City Chiefs had rattled off six wins in a row after dropping their season opener to the Detroit Lions. Less than two months later, Andy Reid's team has lost four of six games and sits in an interesting spot with Week 14 winding down.

Three of those defeats have been by just one score, and two of them within four points. Sunday's loss to the Buffalo Bills, a 20-17 affair, was one of the more heartbreaking outcomes of the year for Kansas City. Despite having an opportunity to take a late lead with the home crowd cheering them on, the offense sputtered and even had a touchdown play called back due to a penalty. It was a fitting encapsulation of the club's 2023 season thus far.

The unfortunate thing for the Chiefs is that they've been here before. Multiple times, in fact, this season. Safety Justin Reid said on Sunday night that the time to feel bad about failing is limited, as everyone will soon look to put this game in the past.

“I have the same rule, you have 24 hours to watch the tape and feel sorry for yourself maybe, but as soon as we start working on the Patriots Tuesday, it’s the next game," Reid said. "You learn from it, you don’t make the same mistakes twice that were made today. We move on to the Patriots, and we make sure that we get a win.”

Dating back to when quarterback Patrick Mahomes first took over as the full-time starter back in 2018, it's difficult to find a stretch as challenging as this one for the Chiefs. A 6-4 start to the 2019 campaign challenges featured a 2-4 span that rivals this, although Mahomes was out for one of those losses and the offense was simply different even with him on the field. This year's group doesn't appear to have the horses or focus needed to weather the storm. While that's how things look on the surface, right guard Trey Smith hints that this game is a pivotal point.

“Yeah, it’s a gut check," Smith said. "The Chiefs organization is a winning organization, it’s an organization that is built and prides itself on winning and being consistent in that phase. Obviously, going through a rough patch [is] a gut check. You have to dig down and see where you are as a man. We still have enough games left in the season, we still have playoffs, we still have a lot to prove. What can we do? We can just go back to work and keep going after it.”

The Chiefs' remaining schedule is a double-edged sword. On one hand, none of the franchises left on the slate are scary. It's possible, and even somewhat likely, that all of them miss the postseason. The next month presents a great opportunity for Kansas City to right the ship in their eyes. On the other hand, the combined record of those opponents is 20-32. If Reid's club shows improvement, is it real? How much stock can be put into it? Will the ship be righted in the eyes of anyone outside the building?

Regardless of the answers to any of those questions, the team has no choice but to put this game in the rearview mirror. As the NFL season begins to wind down from a games-remaining perspective, the action is actually beginning to ramp up due to the playoffs drawing nearer with each passing day. There's some validity to the old adage about squads peaking at the right time. As the page soon turns to Week 15's game against the New England Patriots, Mahomes is hopeful that a winning streak is right around the corner.

“It’s all you can do," Mahomes said. "Just like this last week you move on, you watch the film tomorrow morning or tonight, whenever that is. You learn from it, learn from your mistakes, learn from the stuff you did good and then you move on. I mean obviously, the division has gotten tighter now; we have to do whatever we can to flip the script on our season, this middle part, and that’s going to be going to New England and trying to play a legendary coach and a football team that’s playing better football these last few weeks. It’s going to be a great challenge for us, but I was proud of how the guys played today and hopefully we can just move on and keep it going and try to flip the script on the rest of the season.”

Reid and Mahomes Blast ‘Embarrassing’ Refereeing in Loss to Bills