Even in a must-win game that kept their playoff hopes alive, the Kansas City Chiefs couldn’t hide a glaring problem: Patrick Mahomes wasn’t playing like himself. The quarterback struggled, soon followed by scathing remarks from Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ochocinco on the latest episode of the Nightcap podcast.

“He was trying to do too much. Mahomes was trying to be Superman today,” said Chad Ochocinco.

As Shannon Sharpe added, “He is missing throws. Hollywood Brown had Sauce beat bad on the goalball. And Mahomes missed it. He had Trav on the cover quick, and he missed it. He had Juju on the over route. And he missed it.”

The message was simple. Mahomes forced things that should have been routine.

In the third quarter, with the Chiefs trailing 17-9, Mahomes tried to hit a deep shot. The ball sailed incomplete. Then he turned to the officials and asked for a flag. He believed a Colts defender grabbed his facemask. Earlier in the second quarter, he benefited from a soft roughing call (penalty to Grove Stewart) that gave Kansas City a free 15 yards. Yet even with that break, he still looked out of rhythm and unsettled.

So, Ochocinco doubled down. He pointed to how close this game came to slipping away.

“Anytime you have a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes, he can put that team on his back, similar to what he did today. He almost lost the game a little bit because he was trying to do too much. Trying to do too much, trying to be Superman, trying to carry the load himself. The commentators talked about it. I’m sure he knows as well.”

In the end, Mahomes finished with no touchdowns and an early interception that stunned the Chiefs. The defense came through in the end, sealing a 23-20 overtime win.

As expected, fans were not happy to see Mahomes benefit from the penalty. However, that should be the least of the worries for the QB as he finds himself at the center of concerning news.

Patrick Mahomes has injury concerns

After the Colts game, things got a little tense in the City of Fountains. The Chiefs dropped their Week 13 injury update, and Patrick Mahomes appeared on it with a groin issue. However, the team made it clear that the report came from a walkthrough. So he never actually missed a real practice snap. Yet the news still put Chiefdom on alert.

Meanwhile, Mahomes tried to steer the focus back to the win. After Sunday’s victory, he praised the group for how they held together. He pointed to one moment late in the night when Chris Jones stood on the field before overtime and fired up Arrowhead Stadium. Mahomes also explained why that moment mattered so much.

“You could feel the energy. I’m telling you. You could feel the energy of the defense, the stadium. It was kind of, ‘We’re not going to lose this game. We’re gonna find a way to win.”

Now the Chiefs enter a tough stretch. They face the Cowboys, the Texans, and then the Chargers. The margin for error is thin, and they need their quarterback healthy and focused.