The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense averaged 4.8 yards per play on Sunday afternoon, which was over a full yard more on average than their opponent.

The Denver Broncos prevailed by a final score of 15 points in spite of that.

What gives? A large chunk of the blame can be chalked up to careless mistakes by the visitors.

Five turnovers were committed by the Chiefs, with multiple coming in each half of play. In the first two frames, quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw an interception and fumbled the ball. Wideout Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a fumble of his own.

In the fourth quarter, receiver Mecole Hardman lost a punt return opportunity and Mahomes tossed another pick on a fourth-and-27.

Mahomes admitted that it was by far the worst of Kansas City’s eight games played so far.

“We just didn’t play good enough,” Mahomes said. “Not enough energy for the offense. When they were there, we missed our shots, and when they were there, we failed to execute it.

It was just a bad day for us, but all props to them. They played their tail off, and they deserved a win today.”

One of the themes from Sunday’s game was the wide receiver unit struggling. Struggling with consistency, struggling with high-impact plays, struggling to convert on easy opportunities… just struggling. Skyy Moore and Rashee Rice, in particular, each had a second-half drop.

Nonetheless, Mahomes claims he will not ignore the rookie and sophomore. He’ll keep throwing to them in hopes that everyone can get on track for the stretch of the season that matters the most.

“Yeah, I mean, they’re going to know that I’m going to keep firing it to them,” Mahomes said. “That’s just who I am.

I’m going to keep firing it to the open guy and letting them make plays, and I trust in those guys. Just that as the season progresses and we play good teams—possibly even better teams—as the season draws to a close, we must just keep improving.

I guess you could say, some of our primary competitors. We must therefore improve because the little things—not just drips, but little things—amount to a lot. As I mentioned, the Broncos had a great game plan and carried it out, and they did a great job of forcing us to be patient while we failed to execute or score any points.”

Kansas City’s 16-game winning streak against the Broncos was snapped in Week 8, as was the club’s six-game streak this season following a loss in the season opener against the Detroit Lions.

It was also Mahomes’s first road loss against an AFC West opponent. In his postgame availability, he didn’t seem to care all that much about it.

Saying it was “probably going to happen at some point,” the 28-year-old took the approach of someone who was focused on something else. That there was another force adjusting the course.

In two games versus Denver this year, the Chiefs went 1-for-8 in the red zone. Between the Week 6 and Week 8 games, there were concerns about quarterback play and play-calling as well as receiver performance that needed to be addressed.

That didn’t end up happening, something head coach Andy Reid took responsibility for on Sunday evening.

Mahomes himself hinted at the Broncos instituting a similar game plan twice in the same month, adding even more fuel to the fire.

With a big-time contest against the Miami Dolphins on the horizon, No. 15 was asked whether this could start a trend for the offense.