SI

NFL Fans React to Chiefs’ Laughably Bad First Half vs. Texans

Murphy's Law might apply to Kansas City.

Kristen Wong

The Chiefs were held scoreless in the first half of their must-win game against the Texans on Sunday.
The Chiefs were held scoreless in the first half of their must-win game against the Texans on Sunday. / Screengrab on Twitter/ @NFL
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The Chiefs entered Sunday night's matchup against the Texans knowing they need a win to improve their playoff chances, but they haven't been able to execute much of anything so far.

Kansas City lost their starting left tackle, Wanya Morris, on their very first offensive play, forcing rookie Esa Pole to step in to protect Patrick Mahomes's blind side—and it pretty much went downhill from there.

Not long after Morris was ruled out, Chiefs star defensive back Trent McDuffie seemed to suffer an injury after getting tangled up with Texans' Nico Collins and was deemed questionable to return.

On the offensive side of the ball, Mahomes hasn't had very much time to throw the ball, and the Chiefs' offense punted on their first three drives of the game. As if things couldn't get any worse for Kansas City, Mahomes threw a pick on the team's fourth drive, with his intended target, tight end Noah Gray, struggling to catch anything coming his way tonight.

To cap it all off, the Chiefs finally drove far enough into Texans' territory late in the second quarter to set themselves up for a 43-yard field goal, but... Harrison Butker missed it. Because of course he did. Listen to that shockingly loud doink below:

The Texans led 10-0 at the half, but the Chiefs reduced that lead to 10-7 with a third quarter touchdown drive.

Fans couldn't believe how poorly the Chiefs were playing in a gotta-have-it game with their playoff hopes potentially on the line. Mahomes, who had just eight passes for 58 yards and an interception, surprisingly got shut out in the first half of the game for just the fourth time since 2019; he was stymied in the AFC championship game against the Patriots in January '19, in a regular season loss to the Titans in the '21 season, and then again in this past year's Super Bowl blowout loss to the Eagles.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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