Patrick Mahomes Proud of but Not Thrilled With Chiefs' Week 3 Win: 'We Can Be Better'

It's always uttered, yet actually dealing with that reality is a different story. The NFL is a results-oriented busines that doesn't reward teams for style points, which the Kansas City Chiefs served as a classic example of in Week 3.

Sunday afternoon's 24-10 triumph over the Miami Dolphins was one of the sloppiest blowout-adjacent wins a team can have. All three phases of the game made mistakes, making things much more difficult than needed all outing long.

Still, coming away with a win is the most important thing. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has experienced several of these contests over the course of his illustrious career, so he views this as a "learning experience" for the weeks ahead.

Speaking to the media on Sunday from Miami Gardens, Mahomes tipped his cap to Miami but also expressed his gratitude for how Kansas City closed things out.

"Guys were just going out there and finishing," Mahomes said. "I think that's training camp. We had such a great training camp. It wasn't always pretty. Like I said, we have a lot of young guys and we're all building chemistry together. It wasn't always the prettiest, but guys pushed through and pushed through, and I think that built that up for games like this.

"It wasn't always pretty on both sides of the ball. I mean, we had that three-and-out coming out of the half. I felt like just defensively, they stood up whenever they needed to, made big plays [and] stopped the one fourth down. We've got a lot of stuff to clean up, but I was proud of how our guys finished the game."

Mahomes, who finished the game 20-of-24 passing for 246 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, was nothing out of the ordinary for his usual standards. That's especially true when considering how dominant he was against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2's 33-30 overtime triumph. No. 15 found ways to make plays as needed, though, and overall had a tidy outing that no one will scoff at considering the outcome.

He also let out some pent-up emotion following tight end Travis Kelce's 11-yard touchdown that effectively sealed the game, which he describes as coming from knowing KC is better than it showed.

Mahomes finds his favorite target Travis Kelce for 6️⃣ pic.twitter.com/l4Lyb35Tzf
— The Goal Line Grind (@theGLgrind) September 27, 2026

"I think it was just kind of letting out the emotion of this hasn't been the way we wanted it to be," Mahomes said. "It was that frustration coming out in that sense, but we were able to make a play. At the end of the day, that's the most important thing. Letting out some of that frustration there, but Trav was making a play. He caught the first pass and the last pass. It was him battling through that as well and making a play when his number's called."

In all, the Chiefs averaged 6.8 yards per play but went 3-for-7 on third downs and 3-for-5 in the red zone while holding possession for less than 26 minutes of game time. In the final frame, though, they outgained the Dolphins by an average of 4.3 yards per try and also held a 24-second edge in th possssion battle. A 10-0 advantage in the quarter ensued, reminding the football world of the Chiefs of Weeks 1 and 2.

A grueling 6-11 campaign last year saw Mahomes deal with his fair share of negative outcomes. He knows what it's like to be close but not good enough to come out with a victory. While he's aware that the Chiefs need to up their game moving forward, he'll take pride in how everyone buckled down on Sunday.

"I wouldn't say I feel disappointed," Mahomes said. "I'm happy. Last year kind of taught me that. You can't be disappointed when you win football games. You have to enjoy every single one of them, enjoy the plane ride back [and] everything like that. But I know we can be better. I know we can get better, and that's going to take watching the tape and going out and having a better week of practice, communicating with the entire offense and the entire team.

"We're going to be happy, we're going to enjoy this victory. But we know if we're going to get where we want to go, we have to continue to get better and better. We'll do that."

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