JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Kansas City won’t have to dig deep to figure out where things were awry in Jacksonville on Monday night.
Patrick Mahomes had an interception returned 99 yards for a touchdown and the Chiefs were flagged 13 times for 109 yards in a 31-28 loss to the Jaguars. Four of those penalties came in the final 1:45.
The mounting mistakes proved to be the difference in a back-and-forth game, the fifth one of the NFL’s Week 5 decided in the final 30 seconds.
“Whether I agree with them or don’t agree with them, it doesn’t matter,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “They called them. And so you have that many penalties, you give up field position. You can out stat them to death, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the score that matters, and we’ve got to take care of business there.”
Mahomes did that for most of the night — until he made one critical mistake.
He looked like he was about to put the Chiefs (2-3) ahead 21-14 late in the third quarter. But linebacker Devin Lloyd stepped in front of Mahomes’ pass intended for JuJu Smith-Schuster at the goal line and took off the other way for his league-leading fifth takeaway of the season.
“They showed blitz, Pat didn’t see him and it ended up an interception,” Reid said.
Lloyd juked Mahomes and Hunt, then got up to full speed along the Jaguars’ sideline. He picked up a block from Josh Hines-Allen and then held the ball tight as Tyquan Thornton tried to knock it loose at the 5-yard line.
It was the longest interception return by a linebacker in the regular season in NFL history, and the 14-point swing proved huge.
“It was a great call by them defensively, and obviously a great play by him getting the pick,” Mahomes said. “I’ve got to find a way to tackle him or slow him down after the interception.”
Equally troubling for the Chiefs were the penalties, including a kickoff out of bounds by Harrison Butker and two on Kansas City’s final possession. Chamarri Conner also was flagged for pass interference in the end zone, setting up Lawrence’s wacky touchdown run that turned out to be the game-winner.
Still, Mahomes & Co. got another chance. But Jack Cochrane was flagged for holding on the kickoff, negating a 34-yard return, and then the Chiefs were called for a delay of game.
For the Jaguars (4-1), the late penalties on the Chiefs had to feel like some sort of payback. They argued that there were two obvious no-calls in the game. They disagreed with officials waving off a pass interference flag on Travis Kelce’s 2-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter, and they no couldn’t understand why no flag was thrown after Jaguars receiver Parker Washington was knocked to the ground before Trent McDuffie intercepted a pass from Lawrence.
The Chiefs scored two plays later to tie the game at 21 and retake the momentum.
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