Patrick Mahomes finds surprising silver lining to almost losing to the Panthers

Hey, Chiefs fans, stop me if you've heard this one before: The Kansas City Chiefs won yet another ugly game. A game that most people thought the Chiefs should win handily turned into another nail-biter that came down to the wire.

While non-Chiefs fans expected K.C. to blowout the 3-7 Carolina Panthers, Chiefs fans knew this game would go the same way that all of the others have gone. The Chiefs would be fighting for their lives in the final few minutes and would hopefully find a way to win the game and move to 10-1.

The good news is that yes, the Chiefs did find a way to win. They squeaked out a 30-27 victory over the Panthers and moved to double-digit wins for the 10th consecutive year. While fans are groaning about another ugly win, Patrick Mahomes spoke after the game about how, while he'd like to see some more blowouts from K.C.'s end, these close games aren't necessarily a bad thing for the back-to-back defending champs.

"You want to have some blowouts. You want be a little calmer in the fourth quarter. I've always said it can be a good thing as you get to the playoffs and later in the season, just knowing that you've been in those moments before and knowing how to kind of attack it. But I would love to win a game [before] the very last play.''

Patrick Mahomes argues that close games help the Chiefs

While Chiefs fans would also like to see the team win a game handily and not have to rely on a backup kicker in the final seconds, Mahomes has a point here. While the Bills, Lions, and other contending teams are blowing out their opponents in the regular season, the Chiefs have played every game down to the wire. That's going to help them in the playoffs because they'll know how to handle those moments on the biggest stages.

We've seen this Chiefs team in the Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes era kick things into high gear once the playoffs begin and use what they've learned in their close games to their advantage. Other teams are so used to beating the brakes off the opposition that when they get into those close game situations, they panic and that's when a team like K.C. swoops in for the kill.

Now, don't get me wrong, it'd be nice for the Chiefs to give us at least a few games where the team has the game won by halftime. It's stressful having to sit there week after week and wonder yet again if they're going to pull this one off or not. But just know that it's not necessarily a bad thing for a team with three Super Bowl titles in the last five years to be in these situations every week.