The Kansas City Chiefs are the reigning NFL Champions. They've hosted five straight AFC Championships. They've been to three of the last four Super Bowls, winning two. All of this has coincided with Patrick Mahomes becoming quarterback.
Despite all of their success, it seems like the Chiefs have had at least one really bad loss almost every season. They vary in ridiculousness, but of Mahomes' 18 regular season losses, these are the top inexplicable losses, in order of "best" to "worst".
4. Kansas City Chiefs vs the Indianapolis Colts, Week 3, 2022
This game just happened last year, so most fans will remember it. The Colts were not good, and the Chiefs were heavily favored. The Chiefs largely outplayed the Colts, and yet they were held to a measly 17 points. The key to this game however was special teams miscues, particularly Skyy Moore muffing a punt. The Chiefs might have still won, except a key third-down sack was nullified by the refs thinking Chris Jones was being too mean to Matt Ryan. The Chiefs lost 20-17.
3. Kansas City Chiefs vs the Denver Broncos, Week 8, 2023
This one is pretty fresh, so a lot of people might think this should be ranked as the most inexplicable loss for the Chiefs in the Mahomes era, but not quite. It was ugly for sure, and all of the classic Chiefs mishaps coalesced for a "perfect loss". A bad day from Patrick Mahomes, more wide receiver drops, and a muffed punt. The bright spot of course was the defense. Even though they were put in bad spots all game, they still haven't given up more than 25 points in a game.
The real sting of this game is probably because it's the Broncos who just aren't that good. Statistically they have one of the worst defenses in the league, and Kansas City had to settle for mostly field goals in both games this season. It also broke the 16-game winning streak against the Broncos and was Mahomes' first loss to them. The Chiefs lost 24-9.
2. Kansas City Chiefs vs the Indianapolis Colts, Week 5, 2019
Yep, another Colts game. For some reason, this team has given fits to Mahomes's offenses. When Indianapolis held Kansas City to just 13 points, it was the lowest point total any team had held Mahomes to at the time. It was a shock. And it wasn't even a blowout. Indianapolis only scored 17 points themselves.
Seriously, Patrick Mahomes threw for over 300 yards, had one touchdown, and no interceptions. Jacoby Brissett had a mere 151 yards, one interception, and a rushing touchdown. Defensively, the Chiefs had four sacks to the Colts zero. In the end, it was penalties that really hurt the Chiefs. They had a whopping 125 penalty yards. Oh, and a classic LeSean McCoy fumble. The Chiefs lost 17-13.
1. Kansas City Chiefs vs the Tennessee Titans, Week 7, 2021
I mercifully missed this game helping a friend of mine move. I remember checking the score and not understanding what was happening. The Titans absolutely destroyed the Chiefs 27-3. I even told my friend who is a suffering Chicago Bears friend, and he also couldn't believe it.
A review at the time listed a string of contributing factors to this embarrassing loss. Among them was poor defense, poor play calling, and the Chiefs not being able to get out of their own way. Classic. This loss was unique compared to the others on this list because at the time it put the Chiefs in a 3-4 hole. They had lost to the Bills and Ravens already, too. For many, it looked like this was gearing up to be a lost season.
The good news is it wasn't. In fact, for all of these season (excluding the current one) ended with the Chiefs hosting the AFC Championship game, and two of them ended with Super Bowl wins. The Denver Broncos loss was bad, but we shouldn't count this team out quite yet.