Mahomes: Chiefs ‘still believe’ after falling to 9-6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Even after one of their ugliest games of the season, Patrick Mahomes said he saw a path for the Kansas City Chiefs to achieve the heights they’ve been able to reach in recent seasons.

“I still believe that we can go do what we want to do,” Mahomes said after a 20-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders that delayed the Chiefs for at least a week to clinch an eighth straight AFC West championship.

“It’s just how can we correct it as quickly as possible,” he said. “We’re two games left that are guaranteed and then you talk about the playoffs and so all you can do is move on to that next day, get better then and try to be better the next time we step on the field.”

The Chiefs don’t have to achieve a lot in order to find improvement in next week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. They finished the first quarter against the Raiders with minus-18 yards, the worst for any NFL team since 2011.

Both of the Raiders’ touchdown came on defense, one on a fumble after a botched handoff between Mahomes and Isiah Pacheco and the other an interception thrown by Mahomes.

“You see glimpses of it,” Mahomes said when asked what gave him reason to believe that the Chiefs could fix their offensive problems that have plagued them most of the season. “You see glimpses of us moving the football, you see glimpses of us scoring in the red zone. It’s just we haven’t consistently done it enough game in and game out at this end of the season. We kind of had one good game, one bad game, one good game, one bad game, but we have to be more consistent because when you get to the playoffs you have to string some together.”

The Chiefs led the NFL in dropped passes and offensive penalties entering Week 16 and were among the league leaders in turnovers.

“If we clean it up, we’ll be able to score points,” he said. “It’s just [that] we’ve got to clean it up. We’re two games left. You have to do it and if we don’t, we’ll be going home.

“If we clean it up, we can beat anybody. I truly believe that, but we got to prove that we can do it.”

Pacheco left Monday’s game with a concussion in the second half and did not return.

Pacheco returned to game action against the Raiders after missing the previous two games with a shoulder injury. He scored a touchdown on a 12-yard run but otherwise had little impact in his return, rushing 11 times for 26 yards and catching four passes for zero yards.

The Chiefs, before the loss, placed one of their top running backs, Jerick McKinnon, on the injured reserve list with a groin injury. They finished the Raiders game with Clyde Edwards-Helaire and La’Mikal Perine at running back. Perine was signed off the practice squad before the Raiders game to take McKinnon’s roster spot.