Chiefs’ penalty problems proved costly in Week 5’s loss to the Jaguars — and it could doom their 2025 season if they persist
The Kansas City Chiefs have some pretty substantial penalty problems brewing through the first five games of the 2025 NFL season.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ mistakes proved costly and insurmountable in the 31-28 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on “Monday Night Football” in Week 5, despite doing a lot of the things that typically accompany a win.
The Chiefs won the turnover battle, 2-1. They outgained the Jaguars by 157 yards. So, how did they lose this game? Well, it all starts with a lack of discipline. On the night, they had 13 penalties for 109 yards. To understand just how uncharacteristic it is for Kansas City to have that many penalties in a single game, you’ve got to go back over 2,500 days to find the last time it happened. It was in Week 11 of the 2018 NFL season against the Los Angeles Rams in a 54-51 loss that was one of the highest-scoring games in league history.
“We obviously had 13 penalties to their four,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid told reporters following the game. “Whether I agree with them or don’t agree with them, it doesn’t matter. They called them. And so you have that many penalties. You give up field position, you can outstat them to death, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a score that matters, and we’ve got to take care of business there.”
The penalty problems weren’t just a matter of the usual suspects for the Chiefs, either. Jawaan Taylor was called for a single penalty, but it wasn’t his fault as WR Tyquan Thornton was misaligned on the play. One phase of the game actually seemed to have the most costly penalty-related errors for Kansas City.
Chiefs STC Dave Toub’s special teams unit owns a big chunk of this loss
While every phase made too many mistakes on Monday, the penalties from special teams were especially painful and uncharacteristic of the team. The Chiefs had four special teams penalties during Monday night’s loss. You’ve got to go all the way back to Week 9 of the 2022 NFL season to find the last time that Dave Toub’s unit had such an undisciplined showing.
Several of the penalties were backbreakers for the offense and defense, turning good field position opportunities into poor field position.
Jack Cochrane owes rookie RB Brashard Smith in a big way. His first holding penalty erased a 63-yard gain on kickoff return by Smith. Cochrane’s second holding penalty erased a 34-yard gain by Smith.
Harrison Butker’s kick out of bounds set up the Jaguars at the 40-yard line on what would ultimately be their game-winning drive. This was the first game of the season where he didn’t miss a field goal or PAT, yet he committed his most egregious error of the season in this game.
Chiefs’ penalty problems through five weeks will be an even bigger story if they persist
After a season of fans across the league whining about the Chiefs getting all the calls, it seems like the pendulum has swung the other direction. The team’s rankings in penalty-related stats through the first five weeks of the 2025 NFL season mostly rank among the worst in the league.
That simply won’t cut it when the margins between a win and a loss remain razor-thin for this team. The offense is showing some signs that it’s starting to revert to its old ways, but it won’t matter if the team continues to hurt itself with penalties in every phase of the game.
“I feel like we have the guys, and we’ve executed at certain points of the game and looked really good, and then we kind of crush ourselves with penalties and mistakes and interceptions and fumbles or whatever,” Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes said. “I mean, it’s just we’ve kind of done that to ourselves all year long. It has been one guy here or there, and in this league, it’s so close that those change games. We’ve got to be better. We’ve lost too many games already, so we have to find a way to be better as a team, come together, and play better throughout the rest of the season.”
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