Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs were unable to get the job done in their Week 13 matchup against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football. After a hard-fought game by both teams, the Chiefs ended up falling by a final score of 27-19. With that loss, the Chiefs moved to 8-4 on the season and there are many fans that have major concerns about the team’s ability to compete for another Super Bowl.
Late in the game, the Chiefs were driving against the Packers when something wild happened. After a near fumble, running back Isiah Pacheco was disqualified from the game due to throwing a punch at Green Bay defensive back Keisean Nixon. The penalty cost the Chiefs yardage and added to the difficulty of trying to tie the game.
Following the game, Mahomes shared an intriguing quote about the ejection and punch. It was not exactly what many would have expected to hear.
“I love the fire from Pop (Isiah Pacheco), man,” Mahomes said. “That gets us going as an offense. Obviously, it got a flag in the situation, but we were already in a bad situation. I never want to take the passion away from a guy. He’ll learn from it. I’m sure he won’t make that mistake again. But that’s the stuff that we need on this team in order to have the success that we want to have.”
Granted, it’s understandable that a team needs “fire” from their players and that it’s appreciated when a player brings fire to the field. However, applauding a punch being thrown is a weird thing to do.
No one should take Patrick Mahomes’ quote as saying that he approved of the actual punch. But, it’s strange that he didn’t call that part out specifically in the middle of this quote.
It will be interesting to see if Pacheco ends up receiving a harsher penalty from the NFL for the punch being thrown than just being ejected from the game. Nixon allowed the punch to go unanswered, which helped the Packers close the Chiefs out when everything was said and done.
Patrick Mahomes and company were the victims of poor officiating on their final drive, but the punch was not one of those moments. Later on, the Packers should have been called for a clear pass interference on a deep ball from Mahomes to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Travis Kelce also appeared to be interfered with on a hail mary attempt to close out the game.
All of that being said, the Chiefs will need to bounce back next week. Patrick Mahomes and company will take on the Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 14 action.
