Chiefs 27, Jaguars 17: Jacksonville Misses Opportunities to Knock Off Elite Squad

There are few games that can define a team as well as Week 10's 27-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs can define the 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars.

Falling behind big after some early momentum, missed opportunities on seemingly each drive, and a handful of small details that defined the game and forced the Jaguars into hole. Week 10 had it all, outside of the game ending in a one-score affair. The 10-point loss is the largest margin of defeat the Jaguars have seen this year and the first game they have lost this year that wasn't a one-score game.

The Jaguars had the Chiefs on the ropes several times, but they turned five first-half trips past the 50-yard line into just seven points, with two missed field goals and two punts in Chiefs' territory taking away meaningful points from Doug Pederson's squad, along with an erased touchdown to open the second-half.

And while the Jaguars got a strong performance from Trevor Lawrence, the Chiefs got an even stronger one from Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes threw four touchdowns, completing 74.3% of his passes for 331 yards.

Lawrence, meanwhile, had his second game in a row without an interception, completing 72.5% of his passes for two touchdowns and 259 yards, giving him a 106.1 passer rating.

Pederson went with a bold move to start the game, calling an onside kick on the first first play of the game. The call worked to perfection, with kicker Riley Patterson recovering his own kick at the Jaguars' 46, giving the Jaguars their first recovered onside kick since Josh Lambo executed one in Week 5 in 2018 -- also against the Chiefs.

The Jaguars started out positive after the recovery, too. A solid Etienne run and an Evan Engram catch had the Jaguars in position, but Christian Kirk let a first-down pass bounce off his chest at the Chiefs' 10, leading to a one-yard Etienne run and a batted pass on third down.

Even with the lack of points on the first drive, the hope would be the Jaguars would at least turn it into good field position. That didn't happen, either, with Logan Cooke's punt from the Chiefs' 39 ending in a touchback, one of Cooke's shortest net punts of the year.

The Chiefs looked prepared to take advantage of the Jaguars' lack of points. Patrick Mahomes converted two third downs, completing 4-of-6 passes for 46 yards and rushing for 19 yards. The Chiefs failed to turn a red-zone opportunity into points, though, with Rayshawn Jenkins forcing a fumble on Isiah Pacheco, which was recovered by Devin Lloyd.

The Jaguars again failed to make the most out of their opportunities, though. After a 24-yard catch by Kirk to start the drive, the Jaguars had a manageable 3rd-and-3 past midfield.

But, just as the drive before, the Jaguars let down on third down. This time it was a quarterback sweep call with Trevor Lawrence that gained just a yard after Chiefs' defensive lineman Chris Jones blew up right guard Brandon Scherff.

Then, the Jaguars surprisingly didn't go for the 4th-and-short, instead punting it to the Chiefs' two-yard line before a non-dead ball lead to a Jaguars player recovering it in the end-zone for a touchback.

Kansas City then took just five plays to drive 80 yards for the touchdown, with a 46-yard catch by Travis Kelce setting up a six-yard touchdown to Kadarius Toney.

After back-to-back sacks on Lawrence forced a punt on the following drive, the Chiefs dropped a 3rd-and-10 pass to get the Jaguars' defense off the field for the first time in the game. Then a 19-yard Jamal Agnew return on the punt took the ball to the Jaguars' 46-yard line, giving them their third possession with strong field position.

But even after an explosive gain by Etienne on a screen, the Jaguars continued to get in their own way. An illegible man downfield call on Jawan Taylor on an RPO that was originally an eight-yard gain turned into a five-yard loss.

Then a sack on second down pushed the Jaguars back even more before Patterson was wide left on a 51-yard attempt, giving the Jaguars zero points on three trips past the 50-yard line. This turned into a 10-point swing, too, as the short field helped propel the Chiefs to an 18-yard touchdown from Marques Valdes-Scantling to put the Jaguars in a 14-0 hole.

Despite the Jaguars managing to nail the Chiefs back at their own 14 on a punt shortly before the two-minute warning, the Chiefs still marched 76 yards in just eight plays to score on a 13-yard touchdown catch by Noah Gray. After a missed PAT, the Chiefs took a 20-0 lead.

Lawrence and the Jaguars' offense showed some life before the half ended, though, with a 33-yard downfield bomb to Marvin Jones and an 18-yard scramble from Lawrence putting them in scoring position. A three-yard touchdown by Kirk would put the Jaguars behind 20-7, giving Kirk his sixth touchdown catch of the season.

Kirk was targeted 12 times on Sunday, finishing with nine catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns. It was the second time this year Kirk has recorded more than 100 yards and his second game with two touchdown catches.

Jacksonville had a chance to steal points before halftime after reserve linebacker Caleb Johnson forced a fumble on the following kickoff, but Patterson missed a 41-yard field goal -- his second missed kick of the game and his third in his last four kicks.

Jacksonville came out firing in the second-half, with Lawrence completing several big throws to Zay Jones and Christian Kirk to drive into the Chiefs' red-zone. But after Lawrence connected with Evan Engram for a red-zone touchdown, the Jaguars saw another opportunity fall apart in front of them.

Cam Robinson was flagged for inellegiable man downfield, negating the points and a drive that Lawrence started out 7-of-8 on. Then, Lawrence was sacked for a career-high fifth time. Patterson rebounded with a 31-yard field goal, but it still should have been more.

The Chiefs then responded in convincing fashion, driving 75 yards in 10 plays and after a 22-yard catch from Toney set the tone. The drive ended in a seven-yard touchdown from Kelce, putting the Jaguars behind 27-10.

The Chiefs ultimately did whatever they wanted on offense, gaining 486 yards from scrimmage and earning 7.2 yards per play en route to 26 first downs. The Jaguars' defense ended the game with zero sacks and just two tackles for loss.

Negative plays continued to harm the Jaguars throughout the game, while the defense forced virtually none. The Jaguars had eight plays lose yards throughout the game and were also penalized five times for 30 yards. By comparison, the Chiefs had just two plays lose yardage and weren't penalized once.

The Jaguars did have turnovers return, with an Andre Cisco interception of Mahomes in the fourth-quarter turning into the Jaguars' third forced turnover of the day. This set up Kirk's second touchdown catch of the day, a 19-yard score to put the Jaguars down 27-17 with 5:26 left in the game.

But the Jaguars' defense wasn't able to generate the big plays needed to get them back in the game, with Mahomes completing a a 36-yard pass to Valdes-Scantling on third-down to put the game out of reach.

The Jaguars (3-7) will be on a bye week in Week 11 before hosting the Baltimore Ravens in Week 12.

Stats of the Game (11/13/22 @ the Chiefs) Via: @theryanmichael

Trevor Lawrence finished the game completing 29 of 40 passes (72.5%) for 259 passing yards (285 total yards), 2 touchdown passes, 0 interceptions and a 106.1 passer rating.

With 259 passing yards, Lawrence (5,975) eclipsed Chad Henne (5,817) to move into 5th place in Jaguars franchise history.

Lawrence took 5 sacks, a career-high (27 games).

Lawrence completed 29 passes, the second highest mark of his NFL career (27 games).

The Jaguars defense allowed Patrick Mahomes to complete 26 of 35 passes (74.3%) for 331 passing yards (370 total yards) for 4 touchdown passes, 1 interception, 0 sacks and a 129.6 passer rating.

Christian Kirk led the Jaguars in receptions (9), receiving yards (105) and touchdown receptions (2).

Foyesade Oluokun led the Jaguars with 7 solo tackles.

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