Patrick Mahomes is happy Chiefs defense is carrying team through offense's 'growing pains'

There’s all sorts of buzz surrounding the Chiefs offense, mainly because of who Travis Kelce may or may not be dating. But when you cut through the Taylor Swift noise, Patrick Mahomes and company are going through some uncharacteristic struggles.

True, the Chiefs beat the Broncos, 19-8, Thursday night at Arrowhead Stadium. But Denver isn’t a team known for defense, at least not this year. It’s why superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes publicly thanked the Chiefs defense for allowing them to get through “these growing pains.”

“Luckily for us, our defense is playing great so we can go through these growing pains and try to get better and better,’’ Mahomes told reporters in his post-game presser. “The talent is there. You can see it in spurts. But we have to learn how to sustain drives. Getting down to the red zone, score touchdowns and make it easier on our defense to play a little bit more free.”

The defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs are 5-1. Their only loss came in the season opener to the Lions. Kelce missed the game because of a bruised knee. And you could tell Mahomes missed his zone-busting tight end.

Chiefs red-zone offense is an early-season issue

Mahomes’ stats have dipped some to start this season. He’s already thrown five interceptions (against 11 touchdowns). One of those picks came against the Broncos. His early quarterback rating is 95.7. That would be the lowest of his career if it holds steady for the rest of his season. He’s projected to throw 31 touchdown passes with 14 interceptions. The picks would be the highest of his career, with the touchdowns his second-lowest total. Again, this is all based on projections generated by how he’s played thus far.

But other than Mahomes and Kelce, the Chiefs still are building their offensive identity for 2023. A lack of identity probably is contributing to their redzone woes. The Chiefs rank only 17th in the NFL in red zone efficiency for scoring touchdowns. They score a touchdown on 54.7 percent of their trips inside the red zone. For context, their percentage in 2022 was 71.08. The game against the Broncos was worse than their season average. They scored one TD in five trips.

Mahomes also is trying to find a reliable receiver not named Kelce. Through six games of the season, Kelce sports 36 catches. The Chiefs receiver in second is rookie Rashee Rice, who has 21. Running back Isiah Pacheco is third with 17.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs defense is allowing 14.7 points per game. That’s the second-fewest in the NFL.

No wonder Mahomes applauds the unit.