Patrick Mahomes authoritatively recovered from his first defeat as an NFL quarterback, passing for 358 yards and four touchdowns Sunday night as the Kansas City Chiefs trounced the visiting Cincinnati Bengals 45-10 Sunday night.
Bouncing back from a last-second loss in prime time against New England, the Chiefs built a 17-point halftime lead, scored on five of their first six possessions and totaled 551 yards.
Kansas City (6-1) preserved the best record in the AFC and remained one game ahead of the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC West. Cincinnati (4-3) blew a chance to grab the lead in the AFC North by taking its second consecutive defeat.
Kareem Hunt, who led the NFL in rushing last year as a rookie, scored three touchdowns (one rushing, two receiving) and finished with 86 yards rushing and 55 yards receiving on 20 total touches.
Hunt scored on a 2-yard burst with 11:19 left in the third quarter to complete a 75-yard drive the Chiefs manufactured after taking the second-half kickoff. Just nine seconds later, safety Ron Parker jumped a route and intercepted the Bengals' Andy Dalton for a 33-yard pick-six and a 38-7 bulge.
The Chiefs' defense allowed 239 total yards after coming in with the worst average in the league (468.2 yards per game).
The Chiefs failed to force opponents to punt on 17 consecutive possessions before Cincinnati did so on its first two series. Faced with fourth-and-9 at midfield on its third possession, the Bengals attempted a fake, but up-man Clayton Fejedelem was smothered in the backfield.
Kansas City took over on the Cincinnati 32 and scored four plays later on a 15-yard throw to Hunt from Mahomes, who was 28 of 39 with one interception while posting his sixth straight 300-yard passing game. It was the duo's second scoring connection after a 6-yarder ended the Chiefs' first march, which covered 95 yards.
Dalton, who went 15 of 29 for 148 yards, connected with wide receiver A.J. Green four times on a 77-yard, second-quarter touchdown drive. The Bengals quarterback capped it with a 4-yard pass to tight end C.J. Uzomah, making it 14-7 midway through the period.
Green led all receivers with seven catches and 117 yards.
The Chiefs responded with 10 points inside the final two minutes for a 24-7 halftime lead.
--Field Level Media
Cincinnati | Kansas City | |
Joe Mixon | Player | Kareem Hunt |
13 | Attempts | 15 |
50 | Yards | 86 |
3.8 | Avg Yards | 5.7 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
20 | Long | 21 |
Cincinnati | Kansas City | |
A.J. Green | Player | Travis Kelce |
7 | Receptions | 5 |
117 | Yards | 95 |
16.7 | Avg Yards | 19.0 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
31 | Long | 43 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Cincinnati | 239 | 65 | 174 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 0 |
Kansas City | 551 | 198 | 353 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 1 |