In a wild, back-and-forth affair on "Monday Night Football," the Jacksonville Jaguars staged a double-digit comeback against the Kansas City Chiefs, prevailing 31-28 over the defending AFC champions. The Jaguars trailed 14-0 at one point in the game, and also trailed 28-24 with less than two minutes remaining before staging a last-minute touchdown drive to score the eventual game-winning touchdown.
Trevor Lawrence engineered that go-ahead drive, making a huge throw up the right sideline to Brian Thomas Jr. to convert a third-and-long and then rushing the ball into the end zone from 1 yard out. On that touchdown, which was Lawrence's second rushing score of the game, Lawrence tripped coming out of the snap exchange and was nearly sacked for a five-yard loss. Instead, he got to his feet and scampered around the edge and into the end zone.
Lawrence had quite an eventful night, rushing for two scores and throwing a third to overcome two fairly significant mistakes. With the Jaguars trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, Lawrence attempted to jump over the line for a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line, but the ball was knocked out of his hands for a fumble by Nick Bolton before he could cross the plane. The Chiefs then drove 97 yards to take a two-score lead.
That's when the Jaguars started their comeback. They embarked on a 13-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Lawrence finding Parker Washington in the front of the end zone for a score, and they eventually entered halftime trailing by only seven points. On their first drive after the break, the Jags again marched right down the field, going 87 yards on seven plays, ending with Lawrence scrambling up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown jaunt.
With the game tied late in the third quarter, the Chiefs were driving with a chance to take the lead. That's when the defense, which has been a turnover-forcing machine all season, stepped up: Devin Lloyd picked off Patrick Mahomes just shy of the goal line and took the interception 99 yards to the house to give Jacksonville its first lead of the game.
After a Chiefs punt, though, Lawrence made his second mistake of the night when he threw a pick deep in his own territory. The Chiefs quickly capitalized by scoring a touchdown on just two plays, and suddenly the game was tied once again.
A LeQuint Allen kickoff return for 38 yards set the Jags up with excellent field position for their next drive, which only needed to travel 25 yards to set up a Cam Little field goal from 52 yards out. The Chiefs then matriculated the ball down the field with a 12-play, 86-yard drive that ended with a Kareem Hunt touchdown to take the lead, but all that did was set the stage for Lawrence's late-game heroics.
With the win, the Jaguars improved to 4-1 on the young season, keeping pace with the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South. Meanwhile, the Chiefs dropped back down to 2-3 and moved further back in the AFC West race.
Both Lawrence and Mahomes did a fantastic job as rushers in this game.
Lawrence finished the game with 10 carries for 54 yards and two touchdowns, while Mahomes ran six times for 60 yards and a score of his own. Lawrence's 10 rushing attempts were tied for the most of his career. Mahomes led the Chiefs in rushing once again. Lawrence set a new career high for rushing first downs and ran for two scores for the fourth time in his career.
Honestly, I have no idea how Lawrence's game-winning score even turned into a touchdown. He tripped on the feet of his own offensive lineman, fell down at the 5-yard line, tried to get up, fell again, then scampered around the edge for the touchdown. It was incredible. Somehow, this turned into a touchdown:
The Jaguars came into this game having forced an incredible 13 turnovers in four games. That's practically unheard of. Anthony Campanile's unit "only" forced one turnover on Monday night, but it was an absolutely massive one.
Devin Lloyd made his fourth interception of the year, stepping into the path of a Mahomes pass intended for JuJu Smith-Schuster at the goal line and then taking it 99 yards the other way for a touchdown that gave the Jaguars a lead.
Kansas City outgained Jacksonville by more than 150 yards in this game. The Chiefs averaged 7.6 yards per play to Jacksonville's 5.9 per play. They went 5 of 9 on third down. They averaged 7.2 yards per rush. They scored touchdowns on four of their five red zone possessions. And yet, they came away with their third loss of the season.
They simply made too many mistakes. The Mahomes interception at the goal line was obviously crucial. And he just threw it to the wrong man. If you watch the replay above, you can see him try to fit the ball in Smith-Schuster over the middle when Travis Kelce was wide just to the right of him for what would have been a walk-in touchdown.
But the Chiefs also took 13 -- THIRTEEN -- penalties in this game. That included four penalties on special teams, including one on the final kickoff return that robbed the Chiefs of valuable field position that could have been used to set up a potential game-tying field goal attempt to send the game into overtime. That also included a pass interference in the end zone that set up Lawrence's game-winning touchdown run.
You simply can't make that many mistakes and expect to win the game -- even when your offense moves the ball as well as Kansas City's did in this one. Those types of mistakes are how you lose another one-score game -- how you go from 11-0 in those games one year, to 0-3 the next year.
What a come-from-behind (twice) victory for the Jaguars, who stormed back from down 14-0 and then 28-24 to come away with a win here and improve to 4-1. The Chiefs drop to 2-3 with the loss. Incredible game.
What an absolutely ridiculous touchdown run to take the lead by Trevor Lawrence. After a pass interference on what would have been a game-ending interception, Lawrence stumbled on the snap, got up, and ran it into the end zone anyway. He was down on the ground for seemingly forever before getting up and running for the score. Jaguars take the lead with just 23 seconds remaining in the game.
What a beautiful hole shot from Trevor to Brian Thomas Jr. He lofted the ball JUST over the top of Jaylen Watson's outstretched fingertips and got it in there before the safety could close on the ball. 33-yard gain on third-and-7 to get the Jags into scoring range. Great, great throw.
What a drive for Kansas City to re-take the lead. 11 plays, 84 yards, 6:23 off the clock. A couple of big runs by Patrick Mahomes to convert first downs along the way. Hunt plows into the end zone from 2 yards out with 1:45 remaining. Jaguars have two timeouts in their pocket as they will try to drive for a game-winning score.
Both Patrick Mahomes and Trevor Lawrence have done a fantastic job of running away from pressure tonight. They each have a touchdown but they also have a ton of yards. Mahomes leads the Chiefs with 6 carries for 60 yards and Lawrence has 8 carries for 47 yards.
Jacksonville had a screen set up for Travis Etienne on second down but it got stoned in the backfield, which set up third-and-long. Travis Hunter caught a pass over the middle to reduce the length of the field goal for Cam Little, who drilled it from 52 yards out. Jaguars retake the lead, 24-21.
It took just two plays for the Chiefs to capitalize on the Lawrence interception. (And as the broadcast explained, there probably should have been pass interference called on the pick.) Quick pass to Travis Kelce on a bootleg and then a 5-yard run by Hint, who ran through a tackle at the goal line to plow into the end zone. The game is tied up once again.
George Karlaftis hit Trevor Lawrence as he was throwing to his right and the ball went right to McDuffie. Chiefs are now set up in the red zone with an opportunity to tie the game.
Kansas City had a decent drive going but a holding penalty on the final play of the third quarter and then a delay of game stopped the possession in its tracks. Mahomes missed on a couple of deep shots. The Chiefs elected not to try a deep field goal and punted instead. Jags have a chance to extend their lead here early in the fourth quarter.
Hunter did a nice job of sticking with Xavier Worthy on a deep ball but then he limped off the field and took a seat on the bench. Looks like an ankle or foot injury of some kind. Couldn't really tell on the replay.
What an absolutely massive turn of events. The Chiefs looked like they were about to re-take the lead and instead Lloyd steps into the path of a Patrick Mahomes pass at the goal line, picks it off, breaks a tackle, and heads about 99 yards in the opposite direction for a touchdown. It looked like Mahomes had an open man to the left of Lloyd but tried instead to throw it to a guy coming across the middle and Lloyd just made a great play. Jags have scored 21 unanswered points to take the lead.
Well, seems like Worthy is fine. He sat out for two plays and then immediately returned to catch a pass.
Worthy came into this game having been downgraded to questionable with an ankle injury and it looks like he might have just re-aggravated it. He has his helmet off on the sideline after jogging off the field. Would be a huge loss for Kansas City if he can't return.
This time it's the Jaguars' quarterback scoring on the ground. Another scramble, which we pointed out earlier has been a point of weakness for the Kansas City defense. He did a really nice job to step up through the pocket and find himself a lane to scamper into the end zone.
What a catch by the No. 2 overall pick. Jumped over the top of two Chiefs defenders to snatch the ball out of the air. Lawrence initially looked like he was going to scramble but instead he floated the ball out there for Hunter and let him go and make a play. Wow.
Really nice play by Jourdan Lewis on third down to break up a pass intended for Hollywood Brown. Some contact at the point of the catch but no call on the play. Lewis has been a terrific pickup for Jacksonville in the secondary.
What are the Jaguars doing not using their final timeout here? They got themselves a ton of time on the clock. Big mistake by Liam Coen.
Much-needed TD drive for the Jaguars, aided by a pass interference call on Jaylen Watson that extended the drive when it looked like a three-and-out. A couple scrambles from Lawrence, nice runs from Travis Etienne and then a 3-yard touchdown toss to Parker Washington in the front of the end zone. It's his first score of the year.
Here's something we wrote in our game preview: "One area where Lawrence could make some hay, though, is as a runner. The Chiefs have gotten a pretty decent amount of pressure this year, but because they've had to use extra rushers in order to do it, they have been vulnerable to scrambles at a higher rate than some other defenses."
Lawrence has two scrambles for first downs on this drive.
Hunter had a nice defensive play on the opening drive of the game for Kansas City and he just made an impact on offense for the first time. He lined up in the backfield and took a swing pass from Lawrence, made a guy miss and picked up a first down. Really nice move to shake himself free for a 12-yard gain.
Quick drive for the Chiefs: 33-yard run by Kareem Hunt, quick pass to Xavier Worthy for 5 yards, 16-yard catch-and-run by Hollywood Brown, 34-yard pass to Tyquan Thornton on a broken play and then a 9-yard touchdown run by Mahomes on a zone read. Chiefs go 97 yards in on just five plays in 2:52 after the fumble at the goal line by Lawrence. 14-point swing and the Chiefs now lead by two touchdowns.
Trevor Lawrence tried to jump over the line for a QB sneak on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line and Nick Bolton knocked the ball out of his hands just before he broke the plane. Like, literally inches and perhaps less than an inch before Lawrence got the ball to the goal line. The fumble was upheld on review.
Tight end Brenton Strange is Jacksonville's leading receiver so far this season and he took a screen pass 22 yards for the Jaguars' first first down of the game. It moved them into Chiefs territory for the first time and now they're looking to cut into this Kansas City lead.
Travis Kelce gets the first touchdown of the game on a pick play where JuJu Smith-Schuster was initially called for offensive pass interference but they picked up the flag. The Chiefs quickly argued that JuJu was less than a yard downfield when setting the pick and on replay it looks like he was maybe a little more than a yard downfield. Alas, the touchdown stands from 2 yards out for Kelce. It's his second score of the season and it's 7-0 Chiefs.
The Chiefs have started this game with a 9-to-3 pass-to-run ratio, and one of those runs was an end-around to Xavier Worthy. The Jaguars are first in the NFL in rushing success rate on defense, so this is likely a game-plan specific strategy for Kansas City.
That 17-yard run by Isaiah Pacheco was his longest of the season and just his second explosive run of the year, according to Tru Media. The Chiefs have been looking for more explosiveness in the run game and we will supposedly see more of rookie Brashard Smith tonight because of it, but Pacheco got himself an explosive right there.
Trevor Lawrence threw the ball while past the line of scrimmage on first down and that basically neutered the drive for the Jags deep in their own territory. They got a nice catch-and-run from Brian Thomas Jr. on third down but it came up short of the line to gain and so they punted again.
Patrick Mahomes started the game 5 of 5 for 50 yards to move the Chiefs into Jaguars territory but his pass on third-and-3 hit Travis Kelce in the face mask and the Chiefs decided to punt instead of going for it. Jaguars get it back with a chance to score the first points of the game.
LT Josh Simmons was downgraded to questionable before the game but he's out there for Kansas City on this first series.
