JUST IN: Patrick Mahomes’ Mentor issues blunt warning to Chiefs: ‘Major Panic Time’

The Kansas City Chiefs have struggled to keep their heads above water this season, and now the path to the playoffs is as narrow as it is clear — they must win out, then get some help from opponents.

The Chiefs fought back after starting 0-2, winning five of their next six games to reach 5-3 and briefly regain their status as Super Bowl favorites. But that faded quickly as they dropped three of their next four games, leaving them a 6-6 and facing a difficult path to the postseason.

While head coach Andy Reid remains confident that his team can turn it around, the quarterback who once mentored Patrick Mahomes has a much more pessimistic view.

Alex Smith Sounds the Alarm
After the Chiefs lost to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving to fall back to .500, former quarterback Alex Smith warned that Kansas City has no more margin of error. They would need to win out to reach 11-6, which would not guarantee a playoff berth as three teams currently ahead of them all hold tiebreakers over the Chiefs.

Appearing on the NFL on ESPN, the former Chiefs quarterback said Mahomes was right in his estimate that Kansas City would need to win out.

“It’s major panic time,” said Smith, who mentored Mahomes during his rookie season. “I thought Patrick said it brilliantly. They can beat anybody. They can lose to anybody as well. And they got to win out.”

Smith noted the difficulty of the task, starting with the resurgent Houston Texans, winners of four straight games.

“They got the Texans this next weekend, the best defense in the NFL,” Smith said. “Their margin of error is so small. And for me, this is the thing that sticks out, the defense… cannot get off the field on third down.”

Smith added that the once-vaunted Chiefs defense has become a shell of its former self and struggles to get opposing offenses off the field.

“It used to be elite. Chris Jones is obviously a game-changer,” Smith said. “They’re 28th in the NFL this year on third down. Since Week 8, they’re dead last on third down as a defense.”

Andy Reid is Keeping the Faith
The Chiefs are looking to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014 — the only time they missed during Reid’s tenure. The Chiefs coach told reporters on Monday that he is still confident his team can turn it around, saying they were only a few missed plays away from beating the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

“You saw it in this last game. You pick up a play here or there, that’s the difference in the game,” Reid said, via The Athletic. “And that’s where we’re at right now. We’ve got to flip that around.”

Reid said the task starts with cleaning up their mistakes. The Chiefs have three games with double-digit penalties, including 10 in last week’s loss to the Cowboys.

While some of the calls were disputed, Reid said his team needs to clean up their play.

“We’re not going to use that as any kind of an excuse,” Reid said. “We’re going to work on getting better at what we do and can control.”