Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes Downplays 'Little Disagreement' with Eric Bieniemy

Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes was seen expressing his frustration to offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy toward the end of the first half of Sunday's loss against the Indianapolis Colts. On Monday, Mahomes chalked up the incident to a "little disagreement."

After the Chiefs chose to run out the clock instead of attempting to get down the field for a potential field goal, Mahomes was visibly unhappy while he spoke to Bieniemy as they walked off the field. Kansas City head coach Andy Reid stepped in between them and directed Mahomes toward the locker room.

While speaking on his weekly radio show on 610 Sports Radio (h/t Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk), Mahomes downplayed the incident. He said he always likes to be aggressive to try to score, but the coaching staff collectively made the decision to take a four-point lead into halftime.

"Yeah, I think after seeing the video, I see why people thought it’s a bigger deal than it actually was. Obviously, as an offensive player, and someone that wants to score every single time your on the field, I wanted to take another chance and try to get it down the field and get out of bounds or something like that and try to give us a chance to either throw a Hail Mary or kick a field goal. But they had kind of made the decision—not just coach Bieniemy; I think it was coach Reid and the whole offensive staff—that we were in a good spot. We had the lead, and we could just kind of get to the half and kind of refocus and had the ball coming out of the half, and we didn’t want to make a big mistake there at the half. That’s their jobs. I’ve got to be better knowing when that is the right decision, but at the same time, I always want to score. I think that’s kind of who I am."

Mahomes added that he felt like his frustration was rooted in his competitive nature.

"That’s who we are. That’s what makes our culture so great is that all the people on this staff—the players, the coaches, and the locker room together, we all want to win," Mahomes said. "We want to go out there and compete and win, and that competitive nature is what drives us to be great. Sometimes there is a little disagreement here or there, but we know that we’re trying to do whatever we can to win at the end of the day. I think if that’s not the case, it becomes something different. But that is the case, and we’ve been together for a long time and have won a lot of football games together."

While many were wondering about the state of Mahomes and Bieniemy's relationship, the two of them had already moved past their disagreement by the time they made it to the locker room.

"It kind of goes by. Right when we got to the locker room and we just started talking, it was like it never even happened," Mahomes said. "We both understand that we’re both trying to do whatever we can to win the game. At the end of the day, that’s all it is. It’s not like these things are lingering around and stuff like that. I’ll have disagreements with other people as well. It’s not like it’s just something with EB. It’s just something you want to win. When you have a lot of people that care and that want to win, there will be little disagreements, but at the same time, you’ll come together and find a way to win at the end of the day."

The Chiefs went on to lose the game 20-17 on a touchdown by Colts quarterback Matt Ryan with 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Mahomes threw an interception on the ensuing possession that sealed the game.

Kansas City will look to bounce back against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football.