Order Has Been Restored For Chiefs Because Patrick Mahomes Has Weapons Again

The doctor emerged following the long surgery late Sunday afternoon, pulled down his surgical mask, and announced to everyone in the waiting room that the patient would be fine. 

The Kansas City Chiefs are alive and well.

The prognosis is good.

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs took apart the Ravens on Sunday. The defending AFC champs are alive and well. (Photo by Amy Kontras/Getty Images)

Chiefs Deliver Best Outing Of Season

The Chiefs blasted the Baltimore Ravens in a game of two teams desperate for a victory. The defending AFC Champions, losers in their first two games of the season, had been the subject of speculation they had become yesterday's champion and tomorrow's also-ran.

But this game offered a much different picture.

"It should only get a little bit stronger for them," CBS analyst Tony Romo said of the Chiefs on the national broadcast.

It was "stronger" on Sunday because Patrick Mahomes finally arrived for the 2025 NFL season. 

Patrick Mahomes Returns To Form

The quarterback who has been chasing Tom Brady's seven Super Bowl rings with three of his own finally played like a star for the first time this season.

Mahomes threw four touchdown passes to four different players. He had three total TD passes in the first three games of the season.

He had not thrown a TD pass in the first half in three previous games. He threw two against the Ravens in the first half.

His three TD passes in those first three games tied him for 20th in the NFL. He's not sharing agate type with the league's middling quarterbacks any longer.

Mahomes completed 25 passes to nine different players on Sunday.

Against Baltimore, Patrick Mahomes turned in season highs in completions, completion percentage, touchdown passes and passer rating, (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)

Season Highs For Chiefs Quarterback

Mahomes turned in season highs in completions, completion percentage, touchdown passes and passer rating. The Chiefs did not punt until after Mahomes was pulled from the game with about four minutes left to play.

It should be noted the Ravens were playing without six defensive starters at the point when linebacker Roquan Smith and cornerback Marlon Humphrey left the game with injuries. And no one in Kansas City has any real sympathy for the Ravens about that.

Because no one showed any sympathy when the Chiefs were scavenging for receivers early in the season.

And this is the part where we are reminded football is a team sport. This is the part where we understand that Mahomes had been without receivers Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice for all but three plays to start the season.

Xavier Worthy Makes His Return

That's how long it took before Worthy left the lineup in the Brazil regular-season opener with a shoulder injury, leading to a loss.

He returned for the first time on Sunday and led the Chiefs in both receptions and rushing yardage.

"It helps a ton," Mahomes said afterward. "It opens up everybody else."

Rice, by the way, is still serving an NFL suspension for violating the NFL personal conduct policy. He is not eligible for reinstatement until Oct. 13.

But we have to feel like Mahomes still has a chance to fight between now and then – because he has at least one of his best receivers in the lineup rather than missing both.

Lamar Jackson's hamstring is a major concern for the Ravens. (Photo by Amy Kontras/Getty Images)

Lamar Jackson Hamstring A Concern

As for the Ravens, they're apparently in trouble.

It's not just that they're 1-3 and their defense is spending more time in the training room than the field. It's that quarterback Lamar Jackson's status going forward seems unclear because he has a hamstring injury.

Although coach John Harbaugh said afterward that Jackson's injury "doesn't look like it's season-ending by any stretch," for any of his players, the fact remains the coach pulled his quarterback midway through the fourth quarter. 

Harbaugh could not say whether he would have needed to take Jackson out of the game if it was more competitive.

So the Ravens may find themselves in some trouble on the same day the Chiefs seem to be getting an improving bill of health.