The Kansas City Chiefs are the last unbeaten team of the 2024 NFL season. With the two-time defending champs going for the first-ever Super Bowl three-peat, another Chiefs parade in February is feeling inevitable.
But it wasn’t always that way. The end of the 2023 regular season saw the Chiefs stumble in uncharacteristic fashion, leading to now-comical questions about their legitimacy. Below we look back at Kansas City’s last loss.
Which Team Was the Last To Beat the Chiefs?
You would think the only teams with a prayer of taking down Patrick Mahomes would be a fellow powerhouse like the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, or San Francisco 49ers.
But the last team to beat Kansas City was Aidan O’Connell and the Las Vegas Raiders, led by then-interim head coach Antonio Pierce.
On Christmas Day 2023, the Raiders went into Arrowhead Stadium and sent the Chiefs home with a massive lump of coal. As 11.5-point underdogs, Las Vegas won 20-14 on the back of two defensive touchdowns, including a pick-six off Mahomes from cornerback Jack Jones.
Back-to-back defensive TDs for the @Raiders!
📺: #LVvsKC on CBS/NICK
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/2Mgsj0ajbL pic.twitter.com/MX9uF54Pih— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2023
The defensive scores helped the Raiders overcome a shoddy offensive performance that included just 205 total yards, including 48 net passing yards. In fact, Las Vegas didn’t even complete a pass after the first quarter. To date, this remains the largest upset loss of Mahomes’ career.
The loss dropped the Chiefs to 9-6 and eliminated them from contention for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. At that point, the defending champions looked toast, having lost four out of six games.
Of course, Kansas City turned out just fine, running the table in its final six games, including the first two road playoff games of Mahomes’ career. After their AFC Championship win over the Ravens, head coach Andy Reid called the Raiders’ loss a necessary reminder.
“That was a good wake-up call for us,” Reid said. “It gave our guys a nice little, for [lack of] a better term, a wake-up call that, ‘Listen, we need to step things up here. Things aren’t just going to fall in our lap.'”
Mahomes, who had an abysmal game in the Raiders’ loss (235 yards, one touchdown, one interception), quickly flipped the switch back on. The playoffs looked much more like vintage Mahomes, as he threw six touchdowns to only one interception and averaged 262 passing yards per game.
“I saw more from within the building just how hard guys were working, how guys were taking it personally,” Mahomes said after the AFC Championship Game. “You kind of know how they react after games if you’re going to be in this spot or if you’re going to get a chance to be in the spot. Guys weren’t happy, and they were putting in the work to get better. That’s what you need whenever you go through adverse times.”
Now the Chiefs look more invincible than ever as they seek to make further history. With how mortal the team looked during its last loss, it’s nothing short of a Christmas miracle to see how rapidly things have turned around since.