KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs aren't winning games by comfortable margins but Patrick Mahomes said there is a benefit to their weekly close games. Such games are keeping them focused.
"It keeps you motivated, which I think can be a good thing in the end,'' Mahomes said. "I think sometimes I look back on the year we lost the Super Bowl [during the 2020 season] and we were very dominant throughout the regular season and it's just kind of like you get to this point where you start coasting [because] you're winning games, you're just doing the normal thing.
"If you look at us last year though, it didn't go the way we wanted it to [during the regular season]. I feel like we just continued to work every single week and we knew we had to get better and we didn't let the details slip and we ended up playing our best football at the end of the year, and so that's the hope is that with all these close finishes, we're getting wins, but it's keeping us hungry so that we can try to continue to get better as the season goes on.''
The Chiefs are 11-1, which is tied with the Detroit Lions for the best record in the NFL. But most of their victories are by one-score margins and six have been decided on the last play or two. Most recently, the Chiefs didn't secure their win until the next-to-last play. The Las Vegas Raiders were on the edge of field goal range but fumbled, allowing the Chiefs to escape with a 19-17 victory.
"I think we've done better offensively,'' Mahomes said. "We've done better at executing the offense, going to the right positions. I've done a better job of giving guys chances to make plays. It's little plays here and there that have kind of stalled out drives if that's the deep shots that I've missed to Xavier [Worthy] or other guys or if that's the red zone and not executing at that time in the red zone.
"There are plays and games that if we just make that play, the offense score is 30 points and then we're not even having this discussion.'' Mahomes has been sacked five times in each of the Chiefs' past two games. The Chiefs benched starting left tackle Wanya Morris against the Raiders, this after benching another starting left tackle, rookie Kingsley Suamataia, earlier.
The Chiefs last week signed veteran tackle D.J. Humphries and coach Andy Reid said Humphries would likely start on Sunday night against the Los Angeles Chargers if Humphries indicates he's ready to play. Mahomes said the instability at left tackle has not affected his play.
"I've played with all those guys before and I know those guys are out there battling,'' he said. "They're out there and they've played winning football before and so I just go about my business, go about my process and try to stay within the scheme of the offense and then when stuff breaks down I try to go out there and make plays.''
Mahomes was visibly upset after a third-down sack in the fourth quarter against the Raiders. The Chiefs made their change for their next series, replacing Morris at left tackle with guard Joe Thuney.
Mahomes said he didn't speak with Reid about making the change. "I was more upset just because I felt like there were people open,'' Mahomes said. "We hadn't scored in the red zone and so I knew that was a big drive and I think I was just more upset about the fact that we didn't execute at a high enough level in the red zone.''