Patrick Mahomes watched what looked like a game-winning touchdown vanish in Denver on Sunday, and somehow stayed calm about it. Calm, yes. Silent? Not exactly.
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Mahomes’ reaction surfaced in a postgame video shared on X by Vahe Gregorian, a sports columnist for The Kansas City Star. A reporter told Mahomes that Moore appeared to simply turn his head inward before the snap. Mahomes admitted he hadn’t seen a replay.
“It couldn’t have been big, but it was called. At the end of the day, you have to go with whatever is called, but a lot of times in those big moments, the little stuff doesn’t get called like that.”
His point was that minor infractions in crucial moments are typically overlooked, making the flag on Moore’s subtle movement unusual. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback hinted at uneven officiating after a false start on right tackle Jaylon Moore erased his fourth-and-goal touchdown pass to wide receiver Rashee Rice with four seconds left.
The Chiefs were dragged back five yards, the next snap ended in a sack, and Kansas City walked away with a 28-24 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Mahomes’ message was subtler. A small movement got flagged against Kansas City at the game’s biggest moment, in a spot where, in his view, a flag like that usually stays in the official’s pocket. The complaint is the inconsistency, and the Chiefs paid for it.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid sounded just as unconvinced.
“I didn’t see it. That’s one man’s opinion. I saw him move his head, but I didn’t see a false start.”
Context makes the flag sting even more as Kansas City had marched 44 yards in eight plays with under two minutes left, only for running back Kenneth Walker III to get stuffed on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
The touchdown to Rice looked like the answer. Then came the flag, a rerun from the 6-yard line, and Broncos defensive lineman Malcolm Roach flattening Mahomes for a sack to end it.
Still, it would be unfair to pin everything on one whistle. The false start was one of 11 penalties (105 yards) that contributed to Kansas City’s collapse, but the Chiefs’ own mistakes – a blown 24-13 lead, a missed 54-yard FG, and a fourth-quarter shutout – were equally costly.
That dropped Mahomes to 80-3 in his career when leading by double digits in the fourth quarter. Kicker Harrison Butker missed a 54-yard field goal, and Reid punted on fourth-and-inches near midfield after mistakenly believing it was fourth-and-2 following a late re-spot.
Mahomes, to his credit, did not dodge his own share, including a third-and-2 sack just before Butker’s miss.
“I got to throw the ball away or get vertical, because whenever you’re on the edge of field goal range, you don’t want to move backwards and put those guys in a tough spot. That’s stuff I have to be better at.”
His numbers were hardly the problem. Mahomes finished 30-of-41 for 321 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, including a 73-yard touchdown to rookie running back Emmett Johnson.
The result, though, was costly. Kansas City fell to 5-2 and lost its second straight game, while Denver improved to 6-2 and took first place in the AFC West. The teams are now tied 1-1 on the season after the Chiefs won the opener at Arrowhead Stadium.
So was this one bad flag, or a loss the Chiefs had already handed over long before the whistle? Mahomes has made his feelings known. The AFC West race, meanwhile, just got a lot more interesting.