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Five Quick Facts Following the Chiefs Week 13 Loss to Dallas | Upon Further Review | The Mothership
4. The Chiefs shot themselves in the foot with 10 penalties for 119 yards.
Kansas City was penalized 10 times for a season-high 119 yards on Thursday, marking its fourth game this season with 10+ penalties. As you might expect, those four occurrences account for four of the Chiefs’ six losses this season.
Those penalties on Thursday took their toll, too. Kansas City went scoreless on its four possessions between the second and third quarter despite driving into Cowboys’ territory on each, and costly penalties were the primary factor behind those struggles.
For example, on the first drive in that sequence, a holding call put the Chiefs behind the sticks after driving to the Cowboys’ 41-yard line, and ultimately led to a punt. Then, on Kansas City’s next drive, another holding call wiped out a 15-yard gain (down to the Cowboys’ 28-yard line) and instead thwarted another potential scoring series.
Lastly, on the Chiefs’ opening drive of the second half, an offensive pass interference call took a third-down conversion off the board, later leading to another punt.
Much like the Chiefs’ struggles on third down defensively that were discussed above, the absence of just one or two of these penalties probably would have changed the game. Again, if the Chiefs are to get back on track over the final month of the season, they can’t rack up numerous penalties in critical moments.
NFL playoff picture: Postseason probabilities entering Week 14 of the 2025 season | NFL.com
Considering the deep hole the Chiefs have dug for themselves, they couldn’t have asked for a more favorable Week 14 slate with which to improve their playoff hopes. If Kansas City can handle business at home against red-hot Houston (7-5), the reigning AFC champs could hit Week 15 having made up serious ground in the postseason chase. All of the teams standing between them and a wild-card spot face stiff competition this weekend. Take a look:
No. 5 Chargers (8-4) vs. NFC No. 3 Eagles (8-4)
No. 6 Colts (8-4) at No. 3 Jaguars (8-4)
No. 7 Bills (8-4) vs. No. 12 Bengals (4-8 … but Joe Burrow)
No. 9 Steelers (6-6) at No. 4 Ravens (6-6)
Week 13 panic meter: Eagles, Colts, Ravens, Steelers, Lions | ESPN
We haven’t seen a quarterback have a season like this on long, improvised dropbacks since early Mahomes, early Lamar Jackson, and early Josh Allen — those seasons in which nobody had seen that type of athleticism and improvisation. Defenses got better at the scramble drill and learned to respect Mahomes et al., later and later in the down. But this season, the magic is back.
Not the one-score magic, of course, The Chiefs are 6-6 and might miss the playoffs. But nobody...
