Got blowouts? Even Patrick Mahomes sounds tired of Chiefs cardiac kids routine

The Kansas City Chiefs got back to their winning ways with a 30-27 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Your reaction was the reaction of most folks in the NFL fandom: that's awfully close.

It's hard to mount a case against the Chiefs as obvious Super Bowl favorites in the AFC. Their 10-1 record in the best in the AFC and tied for the best in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes, meanwhile, is the greatest player of his generation. Andy Reid holds that very same mantle in the coaching realm, and yeah — Kansas City has won two straight Super Bowls. This team is real. Of course it is.

And yet, it's equally difficult not to get a little worried when the big, bad Chiefs are squeaking out wins against Bryce Young and the Panthers. This has been a common theme for Kansas City all season. The Chiefs tend to play down to the competition, leaning on Mahomes' knack for late-game heroism.

This season, only two of Kansas City's 10 victories have come by more than a single score — 28-18 over San Francisco and 26-13 over New Orleans without Derek Carr. Other than that, it has been all one-score victories for the Chiefs. A win is a win and there is no softball in the NFL, but the Chiefs don't have nearly the resume of impressive wins as Buffalo or Pittsburgh, despite Kansas City's ostensibly "better" record.

Mahomes is fed up with the comeback bit.

Patrick Mahomes would sure love if the Chiefs could win a blowout

After Sunday's win, Mahomes was candid with reporters. He appreciates getting to experience close, hard-fought games ahead of the postseason, but he'd prefer to stack a couple blowouts before all is said and done.

"You want to have some blowouts," Mahomes told ESPN. "You want be a little calmer in the fourth quarter. I've always said it can be a good thing as you get to the playoffs and later in the season, just knowing that you've been in those moments before and knowing how to kind of attack it. But I would love to win a game [before] the very last play.''

It's hard to blame him. Mahomes has earned his share of the blame for Kansas City's "struggles," or whatever we want to call them, but he always comes through in the clutch. Mahomes has made a career of it at this point. The Chiefs' offense has been terribly inconsistent this season, prone to boneheaded miscues and a simple lack of explosiveness. For all his innate talent, Mahomes can't help the ramshackle pass-catching corps around him.

We are used to the Chiefs profiling as more of a buzzsaw. That 10-1 record suggests one thing, but the game tape suggests an entirely different read on Kansas City's title hopes. If the Chiefs execute at this level in the playoffs, it will coincide with an early exit.

If there's solace for Chiefs fans, it can be found in last season. Kansas City's offense was somewhat muted relative to expectations in 2023. Then the postseason arrived, and the Chiefs were operating on a whole different level than the competition. Mahomes and company flipped the switch. It's worse this season, but somehow, Kansas City is on track for a better record. If it's as simple as flipping a switch, the Chiefs ought to be capable of it. Only time will tell, but we definitely can't write off Kansas City yet.