Since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs back in 2018, the team has simply been able to get whatever they need when they need it. Mahomes and company almost always seemed to come through in crunch time. But it is a different story in 2025.
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For the first time in his career, Mahomes’ Chiefs have lost seven games in a regular season. And that too, with four games left in the season. Their latest 20-10 primetime loss to the Houston Texans dropped them to 6-7 on the year, good for 10th in the AFC.
No doubt there is a lot of blame to go around for a team that has fallen so far from its usual Super Bowl-or-bust aspirations. At this point, they are just trying to squeeze into the dance. And whose fault is that? Well, most analysts would tell you it is anything but the play of Mahomes. But Skip Bayless is not most analysts.
“I missed the new NFL rule that Patrick Mahomes is above criticism for the rest of his career… I saw yet again, as I’ve seen consistently over the last three years, the reason they have declined is that Patrick Mahomes has become wildly, inconsistently inaccurate. Just wildly. … Mahomes has been off-balance and out of rhythm, slowly but surely over the last three years,” Bayless said via The Arena: Gridiron.
In terms of last night’s game specifically, it is tough to place the blame solely at Mahomes’ doorstep. As Bayless also mentioned, the Chiefs were credited with six drops on the day—though it was only four according to Bayless. The Chiefs have had drop issues since 2023, coincidentally, when Bayless says Mahomes started to decline.
The QB completed less than half of his passes on Monday Night Football. And while the drops are certainly a contributing factor, Bayless doesn’t believe they were decisive.
“Last night, this is horrible, he goes 14-for-33, that’s 42 percent completion. And for the year, his completion rate is 63 percent, which is career low. And for that game he had a QBR last night of 17. And you guys are all giving him a break. Because the three interceptions were terrible ideas and terrible throws. All three of them.”
"I missed the new NFL rule that Patrick Mahomes is above criticism for the rest of his career. Patrick Mahomes has become wildly, inconsistently inaccurate."@RealSkipBayless lays into Mahomes' performance on SNF last night. pic.twitter.com/xJuOUePNhi
— The Arena: Gridiron (@ArenaGridiron) December 8, 2025
Two of those interceptions were bad, we’ll give that to Bayless. But the third one hit Travis Kelce right in the hands. Then he bobbled it for so long that the defense was able to swarm and close for the game-sealing interception.
Mahomes is certainly not as accurate as he once was. But six drops in one game will make a quarterback overthink a lot of his throws. ‘Can I trust this guy? Is he gonna tip it up and give me another INT?’
And that’s all before mentioning the absolutely bone-headed decisions to go for it on fourth down that head coach Andy Reid made from inside his own half. Twice. With his defense playing such lights-out football, the decisions just made no sense. And the first one led directly to the Texans’ game-winning touchdown.
Skip Bayless is right: Patrick Mahomes is showing a decline in his play. But his receivers are also dropping balls, Kelce looks like he’s got one foot out the door, and Andy the Walrus is making uncharacteristically bad decisions. It’s a perfect storm in Kansas City right now.
