Patrick Mahomes ‘embarrassed’ by loss to the Lions in Week 1 opener
Patrick Mahomes looked like a mortal on the gridiron Thursday night, as Lions held the star quarterback in check and defeated the defending Super Bowl champions, 21-20.
Kansas City was without star tight end Travis Kelce, he was inactive due to a bone bruise in his knee. Without the All-Pro weapon on offense, Mahomes struggled to find any rhythm with any of his other wide receivers.
Mahomes was 10-of-22 (46%) throwing to wide receivers, his worst completion percentage to wideouts in 35 career games in which he has attempted at least 20 passes.
The Chiefs leading receiver was running back Isiah Pacheco, who had four catches for 31 yards, his longest was for 10 yards.
“It’s embarrassing for me to lose any time,” Mahomes said postgame. “Like I said after the ring ceremony, I've moved on to the next season. Obviously, it's cool for the fans to be able to see the banner and drop in at Arrowhead Stadium. But this is a whole new year and I think I know that and we are trying to win another Super Bowl and this is obviously not the way we wanted to start.
“Any time I lose, I'm embarrassed. So I'm going to try to get better so I don't lose more as the season goes on.”
Despite the loss, Mahomes told reporters he is confident in his young receivers, that work needs to be done but will go into next week with a clean slate.
“It'll be good for the young guys to know that we're not going to just kind of walk in and win the game,” Mahomes said. “You have to play good football. We're going to play every team's best shot.”
Chiefs receivers struggled with drops all game, Kadarius Toney dropped four passes, one that went into the hands of Lions rookie Brian Branch, who returned the interception for a touchdown.
“Other guys got to step up and they're gonna have to step up in big moments,” Mahomes said, “because I'm sure there will be times when he gets doubled.
“Gonna have to [rely] on these other guys that are young and talented to step up and make plays, and I believe that they will.”
The Chiefs will play the Jaguars in Week 2 down in Jacksonville. The team will look to get Kelce back for the matchup and help get the offense back going which based off the play versus the Lions, the team will need him.
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