The Kansas City Chiefs were used to winning by a thin margin. Three-point margins, one-score deficits, and fourth-quarter chaos have been their playground for years. But now, it’s where they’re bleeding out. Head coach Andy Reid isn’t calling it a collapse, but his latest comments make one thing clear. The team’s biggest opponent isn’t on the other sideline; it’s the team’s mental preparation to fight long battles. 

Reid’s message cut straight to the heart of Kansas City’s struggles this season. He pointed to “two-three plays” that keep flipping games the wrong way, noting that the team is “right in position” in nearly every contest but can’t close. For franchise quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest, his emphasis wasn’t on schemes or talent. It was sharper than that.

“We got to make sure we’re putting the guys in the right position,” Coach Reid said during his online media session on December 1. “Got to make sure we’re mentally prepared to play four quarters and then have a positive attitude. You’re not going to hear a lot of positive from the outside coming in. So you got to make sure that you understand where you really sit and the opportunities that you have sitting in front of you.”

That’s not typical Reid coach-speak. It felt more like a veteran leader telling a veteran locker room to stop drowning in its own noise. The opportunity to turn this around is present, but the subtext is impossible to miss. Kansas City is 6-6 because they’re losing the games they used to steal. The margins are razor-thin: All six of their losses have been decided by one touchdown or a field goal. The pieces are there, but the finish is missing.

The next five games won’t give them any breathing room either. Kansas City faces the Houston Texans, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, and the Las Vegas Raiders to close the regular season. The remaining schedule features three division games and two surging playoff contenders, with the only guaranteed win perhaps coming against the struggling Raiders

Reid’s “mentally prepared” mandate is about to get tested in real time. If the Chiefs drop even two of these, the eight-year playoff streak could be in jeopardy. That’s the cold math they’re facing now. 

All of that tension is bleeding through in Patrick Mahomes’ public comments. The quarterback who usually keeps calm and controls the narrative is now voicing the frustration that’s clearly ripping through Arrowhead. Reid can push for process, but Mahomes is the one living the reality: every game left is a must-win.

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ locker room

The Chiefs have not looked like the same team that went 12-0 in one-score contests last season. And after the Thanksgiving loss to the Cowboys dropped Kansas City to 6-6, Mahomes highlighted that’s exactly where the team is going wrong this season.

“That’s the kind of stuff we’ve done all year long,” Mahomes noted about the miscues, penalties, and dropped leads.

But the locker room understands the stakes. It’s not about seeding or momentum anymore. It’s pure survival mode that’s going to get them out of this uncharted territory.

“You’ve just got to win every game now and hope that’s enough,” Mahomes dropped the reality check. “If we’re going to make the playoffs, we’re going to have to win them all. – And that’s got to be the mindset we step into the building when we get back.”

Mahomes is trying to hold together a frustrated group that knows full well it’s better than .500, but cannot prove it when it counts. Mahomes has been phenomenal in stretches this season, escaping pressure, stumbling through defenders,s and still finding targets on deep throws. But even his elite quarterback play hasn’t been enough to erase the self-inflicted mistakes around him.

And the brutal fact is that Kansas City is out-gaining opponents, winning the yardage battle, and still sitting at 6-6 because close games demand execution, not just talent. Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and the whole locker room know this.

“Our ceiling is playing in the Super Bowl,” Mahomes had said after the Week 13 loss. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to go out and do it on a week-in and week-out basis. We can beat anybody but we’ve shown we can lose to anybody.”

The next five weeks, starting with the Texans in Week 14, will define whether this season becomes a late surge or a rare January without playoff football for the Chiefs. For now, we can only wait for a classic comeback or watch them implode.