The Kansas City Chiefs needed to make a real push down the stretch to keep their 2025 playoff hopes alive. Instead, those hopes pretty much took a gut punch when the Houston Texans walked into Arrowhead and handed them a 20-10 loss on Sunday night. While the issues were many, one thing stood out loud and clear: The passing game just wasn’t there. Which is why the vibe in the locker room afterward said everything about how frustrated this team really is.

After the game, Chiefs receivers Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown slipped out of the locker room before reporters even made it inside. And when the doors finally opened, Travis Kelce wasn’t having it either. The veteran tight end turned down interview requests not once, but twice, and sat fully suited up longer than almost anyone. The message was pretty loud without anyone saying a word.

And you can tell why. The Chiefs dropped to 6-7 after a rough home loss, and that 20-10 defeat snapped their run of nine straight AFC West titles. A streak, which was the second-longest in NFL history and the longest active division-title streak across all major U.S. sports, including the NBA, MLB, and NHL.

To make things worse, their postseason odds have slid to 16% per The Athletic. And it’s not as simple as winning out. Even if Kansas City takes all four remaining games, they still need the Los Angeles Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts to stumble a couple of times. That’s why the receivers’ rough night stung so much and why Travis Kelce, Brown, and Rice looked like they wanted to be anywhere else.

And the numbers don’t paint a prettier picture. The Chiefs mustered just 148 passing yards, and the air attack never found a rhythm. Patrick Mahomes went 14-of-33 for 160 yards, threw three picks, got sacked twice, and didn’t score a touchdown. He targeted Kelce five times, but the tight end struggled and came away with only one catch for 8 yards.

Brown wasn’t much more involved, as the receiver caught one catch for 35 yards on two targets. Rice hauled in four catches for 34 yards on eight targets, but the big moment got away from him when he dropped a crucial fourth-and-4 pass late in the game. In total, Kansas City had five drops, tying for the second-most by any team this season.

Still, the passing game wasn’t the only thing drawing heat. Andy Reid’s fourth-quarter decision is catching just as much backlash right now, if not more.

Andy Reid owned the late fourth-down miss

In the fourth quarter of a must-win game, with about ten minutes left, Andy Reid made a call he rarely makes. And it ended up being the moment everything flipped in the Chiefs’ 20-10 loss. With the score tied at 10-10 and facing a fourth-and-1 from their own 31, Reid kept the offense on the field. Bold move, sure. But what came next raised eyebrows.

Instead of handing it to Kareem Hunt (one of the league’s most dependable short-yardage backs), Reid dialed up a shotgun look with Mahomes and Brown in the backfield. The play broke down quickly, and Mahomes’ throw to Rice fell incomplete. Afterward, Reid didn’t dodge the blame.

“I put the guys, offensively, in a tough position with the fourth downs [calls],” he said. “I was trying to stay aggressive with it. I take full responsibility for that. I thought we could get it. It’s important that you take advantage of opportunities. In hindsight, it was wrong. I messed that one up.”

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And here’s the thing: most people liked the decision in real time. After all, Kansas City entered Week 14 leading the NFL in fourth-down conversion rate at 80.8% (21-for-26). And the win probability model gave them a 51.7% edge at that moment. The numbers said go for it. But Will Anderson Jr. blew up the play, forcing Mahomes to rush the throw, and Houston’s zone coverage swallowed it up.

From there, the Texans marched down, punched in a touchdown to take a 17-10 lead, and never looked back. Meanwhile, the Chiefs watched their AFC West title hopes officially disappear. And the playoffs? Well… the window is barely cracked at this point. We’ll find out next week if Kansas City can keep that window open when they host the Chargers.