Patrick Mahomes Says Chiefs 'Got to Start Faster' After Loss to Chargers in NFL Opener

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes thought his offense waited a little too long to find its groove in Friday's 27-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

The six-time Pro Bowler said he was being very deliberate when he lowered his shoulder and ran through Chargers cornerback Donte Jackson rather than go straight out of bounds.

"More than anything, sometimes you've got to do something to jump-start the team," he told reporters. "I was not in the mood to be running out of bounds. I wanted to try to do something to get us going. We kind of got going on offense in the second half, but it takes everybody, and we've got to start faster."

The Chiefs punted and gained 28 total yards on their first three drives. They finally scored with 4:50 left in the fourth quarter, but Harrison Butker's 35-yard field goal capped off a possession that lasted almost nine minutes and only went 49 yards. Kansas City's offense wasn't firing on all cylinders.

The moment when things started to change wasn't Mahomes' run in the third quarter but rather his 38-yard completion to Tyquan Thornton as the Chiefs were trying to work the ball down the field without any timeouts toward the end of the first half.

The mad scramble to set up Butker's 59-yarder as time expired was something to behold. Kansas City showed a level of urgency that had been absent to that point.

The final numbers look pretty good as the Chiefs had 347 yards of offense. Mahomes finished 24-of-39 for 258 yards and one touchdown, and he was also the team's leading rusher with 57 yards.

But head coach Andy Reid will obviously want to see a more complete performance from start to finish. Kansas City isn't going to win a lot of games if it's consistently spotting its opponent 10 points before coming to life.