Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes finding their stride, dominate Washington

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs coach Andy Reid called the first half of Monday night’s game against Washington downright weird, full of turnovers and failed fourth-down conversions and so much lousy execution by both teams that he was left scratching his head.

“There wasn’t a lot of punting, but there wasn’t a lot of points,” Reid said. “That doesn’t normally happen.”

The second half? About as normal as it gets for Kansas City these days.

Patrick Mahomes wound up throwing for 299 yards and three touchdowns, Kareem Hunt found the end zone twice, and the Chiefs’ defense was just as dominant as their high-flying offense over the final 30 minutes, helping Kansas City pull away from a halftime tie for a 28-7 victory over the Commanders on a cold night at Arrowhead Stadium.

Mahomes was nearly perfect after throwing two early interceptions, one of which was hardly his fault. One of his touchdown passes went to good buddy Travis Kelce, giving him 83 scores to tie Priest Holmes for the Chiefs career record, and another went to Rashee Rice, who caught nine passes for 93 yards in his second game back from a six-game NFL suspension.

It all helped the Chiefs (5-3) win for the fourth time in five games. It also helped them extend their streak of dominance over the Commanders to nine straight wins and 11 in 12 games overall; the lone loss came way back on Sept. 18, 1983.

“I think it just shows the growth we’ve had as a team,” Mahomes said. “Even though we didn’t start the way we wanted to on offense, it showed we can battle through adversity and play the brand of football we want to play.”

Marcus Mariota had 213 yards passing with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Commanders (3-5), who fell to 1-4 away from home this season. Mariota started in place of Jayden Daniels, who hurt his hamstring in last week’s loss to Dallas.

Terry McLaurin returned from a quad issue to catch three passes for 54 yards and the score, though he aggravated the injury late in the game. Deebo Samuel also returned from a bruised heel, but after two early catches, he managed just one more.

“It was a tale of two halves,” said McLaurin, adding that he would take his injury day by day this week. “We kind of left some things on the field in the first half that we feel we could have executed. The defense did a great job of getting us the ball back twice. We’ve got to capitalize on that. The second half, they executed a lot better than us.”

In truth, most of the first half was an exercise in poor execution by both offenses.

The Commanders’ opening series ended when Mariota’s pass bounced off Samuel for an interception. The Chiefs’ ended when Mahomes also was picked off. Kansas City proceeded to stop Washington on fourth down, only for Mahomes to have a pass bounce off Kelce’s hands for his second interception — which the Commanders failed to capitalize on when Mariota overthrew everyone on fourth-and-1 deep in Kansas City territory.

To recap: Two picks by the Commanders, who had created three turnovers all season; two thrown by Mahomes, who had thrown just two previously; and two failed fourth-down conversions by a Washington offense desperate to get points.

All told, five empty drives.

“Just weird,” Reid said.

But then, two very productive drives: Kansas City marched 72 yards for a touchdown, and the Commanders answered with a 66-yard drive that McLaurin finished with a TD reception that was first ruled incomplete but overturned upon review.

“We came out well,” Mariota said, “but when we’re not converting our drives against this type of team, it’s tough, because they’ll get going. I thought our defense did a good job of holding them up, making plays, creating turnovers.”

Until the second half. That’s when the Chiefs, who were 12 1/2-point favorites, according to BetMGM, started to play like it.

They opened with a methodical 80-yard drive that Hunt finished with his second score. Then, after Kansas City forced a quick punt by the Commanders, the 36-year-old Kelce capped a 75-yard drive with his record-tying touchdown reception.

“He’s just like, the true Chiefs’ Chief,” Mahomes said. “He helped set the culture and what it means to play in Kansas City.”

The clinching blow came midway through the fourth quarter, a 13-play, 94-yard drive by the Chiefs — well, 119 yards if you include all the penalties they had to overcome — that finally broke the Commanders. Rice finished it with an 18-yard touchdown reception after he had twice come up just shy of scoring earlier in the game.

It made five consecutive games in which Kansas City has scored at least 28 points, and it put this one well out of reach.

“It’s tough to score points in this league,” Reid said, “so anything you get, you appreciate it. I like the way the guys went about it. You need mental toughness. There’s so much parity. You have to fight through the highs and lows. I appreciate the effort.”