The Chiefs opened the season with five straight wins, but their next five games haven’t been nearly as successful.
Their offense produced three field goals against a Giants team that spent the last two weeks getting run off the field by the Rams and 49ers and turned the ball over three times, including an Alex Smith interception just before the two-minute warning that set up an Aldrick Rosas field goal with 1:38 left. They were able to rally back from that to force overtime with a last-second field goal in regulation, but they ran out of luck in overtime.
After the Giants forced a Chiefs punt, Roger Lewis made a diving grab of a 34-yard pass from Eli Manning and Aldrick Rosas hit a field goal a couple of plays later for the second Giants win of the year.
The 12-9 loss is Kansas City’s fourth in the last five games and the stretch of bad play has completely altered what was a rosy picture for their prospects in early October.
Smith’s interception was his second of the game and third in his last two games after not throwing an interception for the first eight games of the season. Janoris Jenkins, who was coming off a rough game against the 49ers, got the pick when he stepped in front of a pass thrown between two receivers. That kind of missed connection was par for the course for the Chiefs on a day when they looked no better than a one-win team that’s been in crisis mode.
One win won’t change the total outlook for Ben McAdoo, but it’s a nice reprieve for him as the Giants played hard and smart after doing neither in recent weeks. The Chiefs’ effort didn’t seem to be a problem on Sunday, but their execution was lacking and their game-planning, which included having Travis Kelce try a pass that was intercepted, didn’t live up to past Andy Reid post-bye week glories.
They’ll be back home for the Bills next week and more of the same from Smith, who finished 27-of-40 for 230 yards, will likely have some wondering if rookie Patrick Mahomes will get a chance to bail out a team that stopped sailing smoothly more than a month ago.