3 Saints to blame for MNF loss to Chiefs: Alvin Kamara's struggles and more

Remember when the New Orleans Saints were 2-0 and were seen by some as a genuine playoff contender after putting up 91 points in those two victories?

Well, reality seems to have to set in for the Saints, as they suffered their third straight defeat on Monday night, taking a 26-13 loss to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. And this was an ugly defeat.

Truth be told, outside of Derek Carr's pretty touchdown pass to Rashid Shaheed and Khalen Saunders' wildly entertaining interception, not much went right for New Orleans.

As it goes, there's plenty of blame to throw around after a loss like this, and we've pinpointed the Saints who deserve the bulk of it after Monday night's defeat.

3. The Saints' defense as a whole

Yes, this is a bit of a copout, but it's hard to put the blame on just one New Orleans defender when the entire unit consistently allowed the Kansas City offense to march down the field at will.

Sure, the Kansas City offense only put up 26 points, but Patrick Mahomes & Co. put up points on six of their 10 offensive possessions. And that number easily could have been eight.

There was the aforementioned interception from Sanders, which occurred in the end zone after the Chiefs had gone 82 yards in nine plays. And on the Chiefs' previous possession to open the second half, Harrison Butker missed a field goal.

The only true stop the Saints' defense made was in the first quarter, where they forced a three-and-out on Kansas City's second offensive possession. Now, you may be doing the math and thinking that's only nine possessions. And you'd be right. The 10th was the series of kneel-downs to close the game, so that really doesn't even count.

Mahomes had yet to have a 300-yard passing game this season, but New Orleans allowed him to throw for 331, his highest regular-season total since a 424-yard effort last Oct. 22 against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Travis Kelce was wide open far too often and recorded a season-high nine catches. And the absence of Rashee Rice didn't make a difference at all, as JuJu Smith-Schuster lit up the Saints' secondary, catching seven passes for 130 yards.

New Orleans also allowed 139 rushing yards, their second-highest total of the season, as Kareem Hunt had a throwback performance with 102 yards and a touchdown.

All in all, the Saints allowed 460 total yards, matching the number they gave up to the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago. That's not going to win you many football games.

2. Derek Carr

It might seem a little mean to knock a guy who left the game with an injury, but it was Derek Carr's early mistake that allowed the Chiefs to start their scoring. And outside of a few throws, it's not as if he played a great game before his exit.

Now, some of that can be attributed to the Saints' banged-up offensive line. And offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak deserves some blame as well, as he didn't offer up the best strategy.

Nevertheless, Carr made plenty of poor decisions with the football. Four targets to Chris Olave was one of them, but none were worse than his interception on the Saints' opening drive. Facing immediate pressure after the sixth snap of the drive, the four-time Pro Bowler attempted to throw a deep ball out of bounds to avoid a sack. But he didn't throw it far enough, and it wound up in the hands of Kansas City safety Bryan Cook.

To his credit, Carr owned up to the mistake in his postgame presser. But it was costly, as the Chiefs embarked on a 10-play, 78-yard drive on the ensuing possession that culminated with Hunt's touchdown. And the game was over from there.

As for Carr's oblique injury, he admitted to not feeling great afterward, and he'll undergo an MRI to determine the severity. With a divisional matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looming, the Saints need him to be healthy to avoid falling too far behind in the NFC South.

1. Alvin Kamara

Then there's the matter of Alvin Kamara, whose production has declined every week since he lit up the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2 with 190 total yards and four touchdowns.

And Monday night was easily his worst game of the year.

Kamara rushed for a season-low 26 yards on 11 carries, and while he did catch six passes for 40 yards, this was the first time he failed to reach 100 yards from scrimmage all year. After averaging 134 such yards in the Saints' first four outings, he fell well short of the century mark with 66.

Again, a banged-up offensive line didn't help matters. And the Kansas City defense has made a habit of shutting down big-name running backs this season. Derrick Henry only totaled 46 rushing yards against the Chiefs, and none of the trio of Zack Moss (34), Bijan Robinson (31), and J.K. Dobbins (32) were able to reach the 35-yard mark.

Nevertheless, Kamara's overall lack of production certainly contributed to this loss, and he'll need to pick things back up moving forward, especially if the Saints are forced to start a backup quarterback in the coming weeks.