Throughout the course of his nine seasons in the National Football League, Patrick Mahomes had never started a game where the Chiefs scored 10 or fewer points. That is, until he ran into the Houston Texans’ defense on Sunday night.
Also, throughout his career, Mahomes had never participated in a game and generated no touchdown passes, multiple interceptions, and less than a 50 percent completion percentage. That is, until he ran into the Houston Texans’ defense on Sunday night.
On Sunday night, the Texans stared down a 6-6 Kansas City Chiefs team that was probably much better than their record — all six losses were by one score or less —but also teetering on the brink of playoff extinction for this season. The legendary Chiefs’ Kingdom has dominated the NFL for nearly a decade, with three rings and five Super Bowl appearances, and countless miraculous moments.
On Sunday night, Houston did America a service, and drove a stake through the heart of the Chiefs kingdom. Have you heard the good news? THE KING IS DEAD!
Texans 20, Chiefs 10
This season is starting to feel special. Let’s get to the winners and losers from an epic night in Kansas City!
WINNERS
4. Jalen Pitre
The Texans gave Pitre a three year, $39 million contract extension this past offseason, which wasn’t a major surprise. The Texans love Pitre, and have always loved him. However, it felt like there were still holes in his game particularly in coverage. This season, Pitre has shown he’s worth every penny, and on Sunday, he had a huge interception and this monster hit on Rashee Rice:
Rice dropped a fourth down pass later in the game, and I’d bet dollars to donuts that he was still hearing Pitre’s footsteps from earlier.
3. Tommy Togiai
Before the season, in training camp, DeMeco Ryans emphatically insisted that Togiai, who was a career journeyman, was the most consistent player throughout camp. It was somewhat surprising, given the anonymity of Togiai. However, there is something about Togiai in this defense that just clicks, and on Sunday, Togiai had his best game as a Texan — 10 tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, and two QB hits. With Tim Settle now out for the season, it will be incumbent on guys like Togiai to pick up the slack, and that’s what he did in Kansas City on Sunday.
2. Kamari Lassiter
To say Lassiter is having a breakout season in his second year probably is an injustice to his outstanding rookie season a year ago. Let’s just say Lassiter has been outstanding once again, and on Sunday he toughed it out through a foot injury that kept him on the injury report throughout the week. Lassiter responded with a game in which he had a huge breakup on a potential long TD pass in the second half, and an interception on a deep ball, also in the second half.
1. Azeez Al-Shaair
Speaking of interceptions, in the same week where he was named the Texans Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee, Al-Shaair secured his first interception as a Texan, and it could not have come in a bigger spot, deep in Kansas City territory, late in the fourth quarter. The pick set up the final field goal of the game, giving the Texans their 20-10 lead. The best part about this play was that it finally got Al-Shaair’s teammates off his back. On the team’s postgame show, Al-Shaair was our guest, and we asked him about the pick, and he talked more about dropping seven other potential picks during his time as a Texan, and how relentless his teammates have been in clowning him. Good night for a good guy.
LOSERS
4. End of half game management
For the second straight week, the Texans and DeMeco Ryans did some very curious things at the end of the half. The end result was the same this week as it was last week — no points, and lots of head scratching. Ryans’ timeout usage, in these situations, has been haphazard and somewhat amateurish. The Texans’ defense is playing so well that it’s basically spackle on top of numerous blemishes, and one of them is Ryans’ game management.
3. Beginning of half execution
Unfortunately, the Texans followed up their subpar end to the first half with a slew of mistakes to start the second half. The Texans began the half up 10-0 and receiving the football. However, on the opening kickoff of the second half, the Texans committed a 10 yard penalty, and it was all downhill for the rest of the third quarter. During that quarter, the Texans had four drives, all three and outs, and ran 12 plays for a whopping -2 yards. For a team on a five game winning streak, the Texans have a tom to work on.
2. Chiefs hands
We are so used to the Chiefs being the team that benefits from opposing teams’ mistakes, physical and mental. This brave, new world, in which the Chiefs are the team that can’t get things straight is disorienting. There they were, though, on Sunday night, dropping six Patrick Mahomes passes, a huge reason Mahomes wound up 14 for 33 passing the football. Make no mistake, some of those drops were generated through intimidation, with the Chiefs hearing footsteps from hits like the one Pitre doled out in the video earlier in this article.
1. Andy Reid’s boneheadedness
Andy Reid is a sure fire Hall of Fame head coach, and in the conversation for the best to ever do it. Let’s get that out of the way. Let’s also acknowledge, though, that Reid’s Achilles heel has always been game management decisions, and, man oh man, did that deficiency come back to bite the Chiefs on Sunday night. In a 10-10 tie, with 10:22 remaining, in a half where his defense had held the Texans to 17 yards on 18 total plays, Reid decided to go for it on 4th and 1 on his own 31 yard line. This was beyond reckless. Punt the ball there! Fortunately, the Texans got a stop, and turned that field position into the go ahead touchdown. Thank you, Andy Reid!
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.