The Chiefs have struggled mightily to begin the 2025 season, which is quite an unfamiliar sight from a team that has appeared in five of the last seven Super Bowls. Kansas City kicked off the year with a mistaken-laden 27-21 loss to the Chargers in Brazil, then fell to 0-2 with a 20-17 loss to the Eagles that felt a lot like last season's Super Bowl blowout even if the score was closer. The Chiefs haven't looked this mortal since Alex Smith was under center, a perception backed up by the fact that it's the first 0-2 start of Patrick Mahomes's career.
The star quarterback, however, isn't put out by that or the winless start to the year. He even went so far as to put an optimistic spin on the situation, calling it an opportunity.
"Obviously, being 0-2, there’s more urgency than even last week, and I feel like we were very urgent last week," Mahomes said while speaking to reporters on Wednesday. "Definitely new territory as far as being 0-2, but knowing that we got the guys for it — we have the mindset of going out there and being even better. In my eyes, it looks like what an opportunity — what an opportunity to prove who we are as the Kansas City Chiefs. Coming back from 0-2 and trying to build up to win a big football game on Sunday Night Football and try and get our season going in the right direction from there.”
Nobody expected Mahomes to stand in front of the media and call the season a wash after losing two games to kick off the year. But there are plenty of canned responses he could've pulled from the press playbook about improving weekly and sticking together, all kinds of clichés quarterbacks have offered over the long history of the game. Instead he appears to appreciate the adversity his team must battle through to achieve their goals.
That's one way to go about it. But however the Chiefs are looking at their start to the season, it is not good, and their upcoming date on SNF with the Giants feels like a must-win even though it's only Week 3.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Patrick Mahomes Has Surprisingly Optimistic View on Chiefs' Winless Start to Season.