NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- In the fourth quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs' 27-3 loss to the Tennessee Titans, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes took a vicious blow to the head and was slow to get up. Eventually, he made his way to the sideline with the aid of several of his offensive linemen, and did not return to the game.
The former NFL MVP spent time in the blue medical tent, but eventually emerged and spent the rest of the game on the sideline while Chad Henne took his spot under center. After the game, Mahomes said that he felt "fine now."
"It was fourth down so I was kind of getting held up and instead of going down I tried to throw the ball and obviously you all saw the hit," Mahomes said. "I kinda took my time getting up, but I felt fine. But obviously you kind of go through those things, the protocol things, but I did everything I needed to do to be here right now.
"I have full memory of the play. You get hit pretty hard, sometimes you just want to lay there, and plus it was fourth down. I knew the game was at the end there, so it was a disappointing day and a disappointing way to end it."
Chiefs coach Andy Reid also said Mahomes was cleared to return to action, but that he decided to hold him out.
"As far as the injuries go, Pat was in the concussion protocol," Reid said. "He cleared it and then I decided not to put him back in."
Mahomes had what was one of the worst performances of his career, as he completed 20 of 35 passes for 206 yards, one interception and also lost a fumble. It was his first game without a touchdown pass since the Super Bowl loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in February. Mahomes was noticeably inaccurate and looked pressed in the pocket -- as he spent the majority of the afternoon under duress from Bud Dupree and Co.
With this loss, the Chiefs are now again tied for last place in the AFC West at 3-4. Reid knows there are plenty of things to correct with his team, but he emphasized that blame should fall on him.
"We got to eliminate the turnovers and the penalties," Reid said. "Again, these are things that we haven't -- haven't been common to us. I'm seeing things that I haven't seen before. And we just got to fix it. And the players, they know that. And I got a good locker room. And, again, they'll continue on with it and the coaches will continue to do it. It starts with me. Completely my responsibility and fault for how we played today."
