Andy Reid encourages Patrick Mahomes to ‘keep firing’ despite interceptions

When the Kansas City Chiefs started off up 27-0, those who follow and support the team believed they were going to experience a stress-free Sunday.

However, in typical Chiefs fashion, they had to make the experience much more complicated than it needed to be. After the hot start, the Denver Broncos proceeded to go on a 21-0 run.

It's not often Patrick Mahomes is the one to blame —- but in this case, he was. Mahomes was responsible for three interceptions.

"Just three bad decisions," Mahomes explained after the game. "When you look at them, the first one, I probably just could've took the easy throw to the outside and I forced it to [Travis] Kelce. The second one, I was just trying to burn it, and he made a hell of a play. And the third one was bad-bad just because the situation. We're in field goal range especially here in altitude and no one else is open, so just throw the ball away and let Harrison end the game."

Fortunately for Kansas City, the Broncos' inept offense couldn't take advantage down the stretch. Starting quarterback Russell Wilson left the game early after his head slammed to the ground.

Backup Brett Rypien came up and threw a touchdown. Then he threw a horrendous interception to L'Jarius Sneed that essentially ended the game.

"Luckily for me, the rest of the team stepped up," Mahomes stated. "The defense made a lot of stops in critical moments when we were putting them in some bad situations."

With this 10th win, head coach Andy Reid passed Tom Landry for the third-most 10-win seasons, only trailing Bill Belichick and Don Shula. Following the game, Reid spoke on his quarterback's performance.

"Everyone quarterback that's played in this league a while has a game like that," said the head coach. "The one great thing about him is he kept firing and had a lot of big plays. You can't take away the three interceptions, but there sure were some good ones in between those, and it's a great learning experience."

When you have someone as talented as Mahomes, you take the good with the occasional bad. Everyone loves that "Mahomes magic, but sometimes with that, he will have an ill-advised turnover here and there. It just comes with the territory.

"[Reid] tells me to keep throwing it, keep slinging it," Mahomes said. "He doesn't want me to lose who I am."

Next week's opponent — the Houston Texans — may be just what the doctor ordered for the quarterback to get back on track.