Chiefs 17, Jaguars 9: Missed Opportunities Turned Into Missed Shot at the Champs

The Jaguars had their chance to take down the kings, but they simply didn't take them.

Saying that converting and defending third downs well -- while flipping turnovers into points -- is essential for success in a football game is as obvious as oxygen is to life itself. 

Both the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs suffocated offensively for most of the game to keep things in suspense in the 17-9 Jags’ loss.

Members of the “Duval Devout” appreciated the defense holding reigning NFL MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes to seven points in the first half. That appreciation could only be matched by their frustration in Trevor Lawrence and the offense only managing to put up three points off of three Kansas City turnovers.

While most Jags fans on Saturday night would have been happy with the prospect of their defense only allowing 17 on the scoreboard, what the Jags left on the field in missed opportunities including 0-for-4 in the redzone was central to their falling short against the defending Super Bowl champions.

Keep in mind, the missed opportunities in question won’t include plays with a higher degree of difficulty like the interception dropped by Jag’s defensive back Andre Cisco (which the defense would eventually redeem forcing the Chiefs to punt on that drive), but chances far more likely to render dividends.

For example, Darious Williams forced Kansas City’s Justin Watson to fumble for their second turnover of the day with 11:07 left in the half on a play that was recovered by Foyesade Oluokun. Jacksonville’s offense found themselves with favorable field position after a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from the Chiefs’ star tight end Travis Kelce. This was immediately squandered the next play by a mishandled backward pass from Lawrence to Jamal Agnew that put the ball right back in Mahomes’ hands.

Later in that same quarter, the Jag’s defense was 2:55 away from shutting the Kansas City offense out for the first half facing a 2nd and 22. On the ensuing pair of plays, Mahomes-magic brought the Chiefs back to life with a 4^th and two. With that short a field at the two-minute warning, the Chiefs were emboldened to attack the Jaguars' defense. They converted that 4^th down which led to the Chiefs wrapping up the 2^nd quarter and opening the 3^rd with back-to-back touchdown-scoring drives for a 14-6 lead.

Jacksonville managed to close the gap to 14-9 on a 4^th quarter field goal, but that came after Zay Jones failed to keep both feet in bounds on a catch in the endzone. Further salt was poured on the wound when a defensive pass inference by Kansas City in the end zone gave the Jags a first and goal. Lawrence and company were unable to take any of the next three plays to pay dirt for a shot to tie the game with a two-point conversion.

The good news is that this is only game two of a 17-game season with the Houston Texans coming to town. And for Jaguar fans, an opportunity to go 2-1 comes with them if the defense can hold firm and the offense can clean up minor details that turn misses into makes in the coming week.