Patrick Mahomes took February’s Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles to heart.
“I watch every game. You have to learn from it,” the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said this week in preparation for Sunday’s rematch with the Eagles. “It sucks that you lose the game, but in order to progress and be better next time, you have to watch and learn from it.”
Well, Mahomes will have some more learning to do this week, as the Eagles grinded out a 20-17 win at Arrowhead Stadium to improve to 2-0 in their quest to defend their championship.
While Sunday’s loss wasn’t quite the 40-22 beatdown in Super LIX, it didn’t do a lot to quiet the question marks surrounding the Chiefs right now.
Much like in the Super Bowl, the Eagles’ defence completely controlled the line of scrimmage and made life very difficult for Mahomes on Sunday.
Mahomes finished just 16-of-27 for 187 yards with one touchdown and one interception, while the Chiefs’ running backs combined for just 55 yards on 19 carries.
To be fair to the Chiefs’ offence, they were playing undermanned without their top two receivers in Rashee Rice (suspension) and speedster Xavier Worthy (shoulder). They also had a crucial red-zone turnover after the usually sure-handed Travis Kelce dropped a pass that ended up in the arms of an Eagles defender.
“We played two good football teams and made mistakes in big moments, stuff that we’re not used to doing,” Mahomes said to reporters after the game. “But I think we’re coming together as a team. I mean, we deal with adversity. It’s about how you deal with it. And obviously this isn’t how we want to start, but how are we going to respond?”
But for the first time since high school, Mahomes has to figure out how to respond to a 0-2 start.
Does a 0-2 start mean it’s time to write the Chiefs off from going to a fourth straight Super Bowl? Absolutely not. Not with this head coach and quarterback.
But for the first time in recent memory, Kansas City is facing more questions than answers to start an NFL season.
Here are some other takeaways from Week 2:
No Johnson, no problem
The Detroit Lions easily had the most satisfying win of the week.
After a Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers, many wondered if the Lions were really going to survive the loss of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Turns out that might’ve been a tad premature, as with Johnson on the opposite sideline Sunday, the Lions’ offence put up 52 points in a convincing win over the Chicago Bears.
Jared Goff looked unflappable and completed 23-of-28 passes for 334 yards and five touchdowns — three of which went to Amon-Ra St. Brown.
“I knew the guys would respond,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said after the game. “This train keeps rolling and it’s always going to start with the players.”
The Lions put up more than 500 yards of offence with five passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns for the first time in franchise history.
Meanwhile, things are not going as well for Johnson through his first two games as an NFL head coach.
Much like Week 1, outside of an opening drive touchdown, Bears second-year QB Caleb Williams still looks like he’s adjusting to the speed of the NFL game.
From bad decision-making to errant throws, through two weeks, a lot of what the 2024 No. 1 pick struggled with in his disappointing rookie season doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
“It’s not really necessarily surprising or anything like that,” Williams said after the game. “New coach. New offence. A bunch of new players, and we’re all trying to figure it out.”
The Lions, on the other hand, sure figured it out on Sunday.
Russ giveth and Russ taketh away
No question the game of the day belongs to the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
A 46-yard field goal from Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey ended what was a thrilling quarterback duel between Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson.
Prescott built on his solid game in Week 1 and finished 38-of-52 for 361 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the 40-37 win.
But it was Wilson’s performance Sunday that almost no one could’ve predicted.
Wilson threw for three touchdowns and 450 yards — the second most in his storied 14-year career.
It was a far cry from Wilson’s outing in Week 1, when the Giants scored just six points in a loss to the Washington Commanders to spark early questions about a QB change in New York.
Unfortunately for Wilson, his one mistake Sunday was a big one. He threw an ill-advised deep ball in overtime that ended up as an interception, which led to Aubrey’s game-winning kick.
Despite the late gaffe, Wilson’s stellar outing Sunday should quiet the people calling for his job for at least one week. But with the Giants now 0-2 and rookie Jaxson Dart waiting in the wings, Wilson is going to have to keep it up to last the season as the Giants’ starter.
Bittersweet Sunday for Bengals
We’ll start with the good news for the Cincinnati Bengals.
After struggles to start quickly over the past few seasons, the Bengals pulled off a 31-27 come-from-behind over the Jacksonville Jaguars to improve to 2-0 this season.
The bad news? The comeback was led by backup Jake Browning instead of Joe Burrow.
Burrow exited the game in the second quarter after a sack by Jaguars defensive tackle Arik Armstead and wouldn’t return to the game.
The news after the game also wasn’t promising as Burrow was diagnosed with a severe turf toe injury. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that images of the injury will be sent to a specialist, but if surgery is required, Burrow will be forced to miss the next three months.
It would be a devastating blow to the Bengals’ hopes this season, as even though Browning looked competent on Sunday, he’s certainly no Burrow.
Two costly gaffes
While every NFL Sunday brings spectacular plays aplenty, mistakes happen, too.
In Week 2, there were two especially costly blunders that contributed directly to losses.
The first came when Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Kaleb Johnson showed his youth and touched the ball on the kickoff before letting it travel past him into the endzone. With the ball now live, the Seattle Seahawks jumped on the ball for a game-changing touchdown in a 31-17 Seattle win.
Next up was Denver Broncos linebacker Dondrea Tillman. With the Indianapolis Colts needing a 60-yard field goal to win with no time left, the Broncos appeared to escape with a victory after Colts kicker Spencer Shrader pushed his attempt wide right.
But Tillman was called for a 15-yard leverage penalty, and Shrader made no mistake on his second chance to seal a 29-28 win for the Colts.
It will be a long week in the film room for both Johnson and Tillman.
