Patrick Mahomes doesn’t like to mince words when it comes to taking accountability. The Kansas City Chiefs had a terrible campaign in 2025, going down 6-11 in the regular season. While fans and experts were looking for answers, the quarterback has finally spoken up for the first time since tearing his ACL in a game against the Chargers in Week 15. He pointed straight at the root of the collapse.

“For myself, I look at some of the red-zone interceptions I threw in kind of bigger moments in the third and fourth quarters of games,” he said while speaking with KCSN’S Herbie Teope on Thursday. “That’s stuff I hadn’t done in the past.”

According to him, it was never one moment or one game. It was a pileup. Those small errors triggered a domino effect and led to a total collapse. Mahomes admitted that his unit never found a steady rhythm, and he placed himself in the crosshairs, too.

“We’ve got to be better. That starts with me,” he added.

Before suffering the serious injury, the QB threw for 3,587 yards with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while also adding 422 rushing yards. Nine of his interceptions came in the second half and five of the total happened in the red zone, pretty strange considering Mahomes’ track record.

Adding to the woes, Mahomes’ wide receiver corps also lagged in comparison to the league’s top teams.  They were ranked below 25 despite adding Hollywood Brown, Tyquan Thornton, and rookie Xavier Worthy to the playing roster.

In the last couple years the Chiefs haven’t made major investments in the offense, which left Mahomes to carry the workload. While his passing attempts actually decreased, the QB had to significantly elevate his run game.  He finished with a career-high 64 rushing attempts for 422 yards.

In Mahomes’ view, fixing the offense starts with a deeper evaluation of the scheme. He believes the offense showed improvement towards the beginning but never sustained its full execution. The team leaned way too heavily on the passer to make plays under pressure.

When it comes to the Chiefs’ run game as a whole, it wasn’t very effective either. Kareem Hunt’s longest run all season was only 33 yards, while Isiah Pacheco’s longest in that category was just 16 yards.

Patrick Mahomes addresses the disappointment of missing the playoffs

Another big issue for the Chiefs was the overall productivity. Rashee Rice, Worthy, and Brown all crossed 500 yards in 2025, yet none touched 600. That gap holds a lot of significance at this level. Travis Kelce led the group with 851 yards, but even that wasn’t sufficient.

At 36, and with his 2026 status uncertain, he can’t be considered a reliable option anymore. For an offense built to scare defenses, that balance looks slightly off.

Only Rashee Rice and Nikko Remigio cracked two yards per route run, which is solid on paper. However, Remigio’s work came on just eight routes, so it barely counts. Rice’s role stayed limited with an average target depth of only 4.9 yards. As a result, explosive plays were quite rare. Mahomes has been honest about where things stand emotionally.

He said players and coaches “are motivated” to improve, while also admitting “it s–ks” watching January football from home. That tone matched what Chiefs Kingdom felt all season.

“The guys are motivated, coaches, players, we’re all motivated to be better this next year.  And as I said, it sucks watching these games. I want to be out there playing football,” Mahomes said. 

“So it’ll give us the motivation, hopefully, for us to come back stronger next year.”

In 2026, the direction is obvious. The standard at Arrowhead Stadium remains the same: winning the titles.

That said, Kansas City will be making drastic changes to the coaching staff this offseason, as offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is already busy interviewing with other teams. The position is expected to be filled with a new candidate ahead of the 2026 regular season.