There are no unbeaten teams left to argue about. Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught nine passes for 150 yards and a touchdown, and the Seattle Seahawks' defense suffocated Patrick Mahomes all night, beating the Kansas City Chiefs 20-3 on Sunday Night Football at Lumen Field and handing the defending Super Bowl runners-up their first loss of the season.
Kansas City came into the game 5-0, one of the last unbeaten teams in the NFL. It left 5-1 — and it never once reached the red zone.
Smith-Njigba takes over before halftime
Seattle's defense set the tone early, and Smith-Njigba finished the job. After safety Ty Okada intercepted a Mahomes pass, Sam Darnold found Smith-Njigba on a 28-yard scoring strike down the left sideline with 1:44 left in the first half. The play was originally ruled out of bounds inside the 1-yard line, but a video review determined the ball had crossed the goal line, giving the Seahawks a 10-0 lead.
Darnold finished 20 of 28 for 257 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Smith-Njigba was outgaining the entire Kansas City offense by himself at one point in the first half, and his nine catches were the most by any player on the night.
Jason Myers opened the scoring with a 25-yard field goal and added a 35-yarder in the third quarter. The Seahawks finished with 24 first downs, 410 total yards, and 11 conversions on 16 third downs.
Mahomes never finds a rhythm
The numbers tell the story of Kansas City's night. Mahomes completed 19 of 33 passes for 165 yards with no touchdowns and an interception, a 58.3 passer rating — one of the worst of his career. The Chiefs managed just 213 yards of total offense, 11 first downs, and 3 conversions on 11 third downs. As the NBC broadcast noted, it was the first time Kansas City failed to reach the red zone in a Mahomes start — including the postseason.
Kenneth Walker III, the former Seahawk who was the MVP of Seattle's 29-13 Super Bowl LX win over New England before signing with Kansas City as a free agent in the offseason, was held to 36 yards on 14 carries. He entered the game averaging 6.3 yards per carry.
Travis Kelce led Kansas City with four receptions for 44 yards and moved into fifth place all time in receptions, with 1,103 — little consolation on a night like this.
Butker's misses, Wilson's clincher
Harrison Butker accounted for all of Kansas City's points with a 50-yard field goal late in the third quarter. But he also missed twice: a 58-yard attempt that fell short on the final play of the first half, and a 45-yarder wide right with 8:33 left in the fourth, when a make would have cut the deficit to seven.
Seattle answered the second miss the way champions do. Emanuel Wilson, who ran 24 times for 100 yards, capped a nine-play, 65-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown run around the left end with 3:47 remaining, sealing the 20-3 win for the defending Super Bowl champions (4-3).
Kansas City, which was also without wide receivers Rashee Rice (hamstring) and Tyquan Thornton (ankle), now heads to Denver to face the Broncos (5-2) for the AFC West lead. Seattle, meanwhile, looks every bit the team that lifted the trophy in February — and its defense, the "Dark Side," just made its loudest statement of the season.
Fuentes: Reuters, NBC Sports, USA Today, Athlon Sports, Sportradar.