Patrick Mahomes dissects defense for 3 TDs as Chiefs hand Steelers 3rd straight loss

If the Pittsburgh Steelers were looking for a gift from a jolly fellow wearing red and white, the Kansas City Chiefs were dressed for the occasion. Chiefs coach Andy Reid even arrived at Acrisure Stadium in a Santa Claus suit.

But the trouble following their Christmas Day defeat has less to do with someone swiping presents and more about the Steelers self-destructing in December once again. They committed two costly turnovers, forced none and were picked apart by two-time MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who completed 29 of 38 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns in a 29-10 win Wednesday afternoon before a crowd of 67,311.

The Steelers (10-6) suffered their third consecutive defeat by double digits in an 11-day span after back-to-back road losses at Philadelphia and Baltimore, scoring fewer than 20 points in all three games. The Chiefs (15-1) won their sixth straight to clinch the No. 1 seed in AFC playoffs with a win, secure a first-round bye and home-field advantage through the conference championship game.

It was only the Chiefs’ fourth win by double digits this season and their largest margin of victory, as well as the Steelers’ largest margin of defeat.

“That sucked, to be blunt,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “We’ve got to look at ourselves and own it. Obviously, we’ve got to be committed to making whatever changes necessary in an effort to improve the outcome. It’s as simple as that.”

For the Steelers, the solution isn’t so simple. They couldn’t pinpoint their problems, even as several defenders called out their teammates for not doing their jobs. Mahomes repeatedly exposed the soft spots in their defense, connecting with wide receiver Xavier Worthy in the flat, tight end Travis Kelce over the middle and South Fayette alum Justin Watson deep along the sideline.

“First off, guys can’t be (expletive) wide open,” snapped Steelers strong safety DeShon Elliott. “That’s the first thing: Just do your job. I felt like we communicated. Guys just weren’t doing their job. So it’s get back to the drawing board. It’s Week 18. We shouldn’t be having these problems in Week 18. It’s a Week 1-Week 2 problem. I don’t know where we went down the line and started becoming a whole different defense than we were, but we’ve got to get back to who we are.”

That begs a bigger question: Can the Steelers do that?

“We have the same players. The players haven’t changed,” Elliott said. “Execute. Play like us. Get the ball off the offense, play well in the red zone, get off the freaking field and give our offense a chance to score. We’re not doing that.”

The Steelers offense once again struggled with turnovers, penalties and communication issues in coverage. Quarterback Russell Wilson was 23 of 37 for 205 yards, threw an interception in the end zone and was sacked five times for losses totaling 43 yards by a Chiefs pass rush that was missing injured All-Pro defensive lineman Chris Jones.

On third down of the opening drive, Wilson stumbled and fumbled but recovered the ball for an 11-yard loss. Then Nikko Remigio returned the ensuing punt 25 yards to put the Chiefs at the Pittsburgh 42, giving Mahomes a short field to work with against a defense that struggled to stop the Eagles and the Ravens the previous two games.

Kareem Hunt converted a fourth-and-1 with a 4-yard run, Mahomes ran a keeper for a 12-yard gain and threw a 7-yard swing pass to Worthy for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead. But Worthy drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, pushing the point-after back 15 yards and Harrison Butker missed the kick wide right.

After Wilson was sacked for a 10-yard loss to force another punt, the Chiefs went 79 yards on seven plays. Mahomes threw a picture-perfect 49-yard pass to Watson along the home sideline, then for an 11-yard touchdown to Watson and 13-0 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter.

“There’s no explanation. We came out flat,” Steelers inside linebacker Patrick Queen said. “Can’t explain it. It’s happening. We keep talking about it, but nobody’s doing anything about it. It’s frustrating.”

The Steelers offense came alive when Wilson found George Pickens along the home sideline for a 41-yard pass — the first catch for their top receiver after missing three games with a hamstring injury — and Jaylen Warren followed with runs of 22 and 6 yards.

Then the Steelers self-destructed. Warren’s 8-yard touchdown run was negated by a holding penalty on tight end Darnell Washington; on the next play, Wilson was intercepted in the end zone by safety Justin Reid on a pass intended for tight end Pat Freiermuth in triple coverage.

“It can’t happen. It’s on me,” Wilson said. “I was trying to give Pat a chance. He’s done a good job for us down in the red zone, and they made a good play.”

But the defense forced a three-and-out, and Wilson directed an 11-play, 72-yard scoring drive highlighted by a pair of 15-yard passes to Freiermuth and capped by Wilson’s 1-yard touchdown run that saw him dive for the pylon to cut it to 13-7 at 10:28 of the second quarter.

The Chiefs opened the second-half scoring with a 32-yard field goal by Butker for a 16-7 lead, but the Steelers answered with a 36-yarder by Chris Boswell to cut it to 16-10 with 5:45 left in the third. The Steelers were back in it, if the defense could hold.

“At that point in time, we still had a chance to win that game,” Elliott said. “I think we always have a chance to win the game. We started getting in the dirt. Stand up. We’ve got the guys to stand up. We have the chemistry and the character in our room to stand up. We’ve just got to do it. If you want to go where we want to go, we’ve got to freaking do it.”

Instead, Mahomes picked the Steelers apart by completing eight consecutive passes in directing an 11-play, 77-yard scoring drive that ended with Hunt’s 2-yard touchdown run for a 22-10 lead four seconds into the fourth quarter. The Chiefs went for two, with Mahomes scrambling before his desperation pass was picked off by Cory Trice Jr.

The Steelers then turned it over, as Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie stripped Freiermuth after a 10-yard catch and linebacker Nick Bolton recovered at the Pittsburgh 34. Almost immediately, Mahomes made the Steelers pay the price for that mistake.

“A guy like him, with his talent level and resume,” Tomlin said, “you can’t give him short fields and things of that nature.”

Four plays later, Mahomes rolled right and found Kelce all alone in the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown and 29-10 lead with 12:38 remaining. Kelce celebrated breaking the franchise record for most touchdown receptions (77) by dunking the ball over the goalpost in tribute to Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez.

After losing three games in an 11-day span, the Steelers now have 10 days off before hosting the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals in the season finale. The Steelers have already clinched a playoff berth but still have an outside chance to win the division.

“We’ve got a big one at home next week, and that one is going to matter to us in a lot of ways,” Wilson said, “because we want to catch that momentum going into the playoffs and how we play the right way.”