ARLINGTON, Texas — As the Chiefs wobbled on the verge of a loss that would further scramble their once-assumed playoff berth, Patrick Mahomes on Thursday conjured the sort of sorcery that belongs in the pantheon of his most majestic moments.

Call it recency bias, but the play was about as absurd as anything we’ve ever seen the superstar quarterback do:

With the Chiefs trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter and facing third-and-5, Mahomes was flushed out of the pocket to his right, tripped up and stumbled seven-eight-nine steps. Just when gravity insisted he fall, he somehow sprung up over the diving grasp of another defender.

Then he fired downfield as he fell forward, the play covering 42 yards as a pass to Xavier Worthy, setting up a 10-yard touchdown throw to Hollywood Brown that made it a three-point game with 3 minutes, 10 seconds left.

Nobody else on Earth makes this play this way, especially in such a dire situation for a 6-5 team on a global stage playing on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys team he grew up loving.

And if there were any poetic justice to this day, the play would have produced what so many of his other swashbuckling deeds have:

It would have jump-started the team around him and won the day.

Instead, the Chiefs fizzled down the stretch and lost 31-28.

With that, they surrendered any traction regained with that 23-20 overtime victory over Indianapolis four days before. And in squandering that momentum, beating the Colts suddenly looks a lot more like a reprieve than the reset it had appeared to be.

Meanwhile, the manner of the loss to the Cowboys helps clarify both why these Chiefs have a less-than-zero margin for error to salvage a playoff berth, and have now relinquished all benefit of the doubt.

Because at least for the time being, even the Mahomes Effect — which includes being the only quarterback in NFL history with a winning record (20-19) after trailing by double digits — can’t make up for everything else going sideways.

Because Mahomes ultimately only can be the catalyst, not the entire solution — a notion perhaps -best described by Chiefs coach Andy Reid after the 13-second game against Buffalo.

“When it’s grim, be the Grim Reaper. And go get it,” Reid said he told Mahomes at that point of the game. “He did that. He made everybody around him better, which he’s great at.”

If everybody around him isn’t what they need to be, well, it’s just grim like it is now.

It’s hard to win when the defense gives up 457 yards, can’t generate any pressure on Dak Prescott and allows its longest completion of the season (51 yards) with the Cowboys backed up at their 10-yard line when the Chiefs had to have a stop in the fourth quarter.

And when the team is assessed 10 penalties for 119 yards, no matter how objectionable a few appeared.

It didn’t help to be down three starting offensive linemen, as the Chiefs were through most of the second half with Jawaan Taylor (strained triceps) and Josh Simmons (wrist) joining Trey Smith — who didn’t play because of a back injury.

So on a day Mahomes concocted another snapshot for the ages and threw four touchdown passes for just the second time since Oct. 22, 2023, the Chiefs lost for the first time in 13 career games when he threw at least four TD passes with no interceptions.

That makes for a disillusioning reality:

Even with Mahomes playing an essentially mistake-free game brimming with highlights, the Chiefs couldn’t seize the day.

And maybe that’s the first time it’s really landed like that when it matters since the 37-31 overtime loss to the Patriots in the 2018-19 AFC championship game in Mahomes’ first season as QB1 — the game that triggered the firing of defensive coordinator Bob Sutton in favor of Steve Spagnuolo.

Not that this defense is remotely like that one. After all, the Chiefs entered the game fourth in the NFL in points allowed (18.3 a game) and off a victory underscored by forcing the NFL’s top-scoring offense into four straight three-and-outs when it mattered most.

But the defense remains part of an inconsistency across the board, at times including Mahomes, that remains bedeviling.

Which is why we are where we are now — a precarious perch jeopardizing the season and, with that prospect, leaving to question what’s to come beyond.

Because with even one more loss in their final five games, the Chiefs likely are staring at a point of no-return-to-the-playoffs after appearing in the last seven AFC championship games.

That sure would be a dramatic and abrupt retreat after winning three Super Bowls in the last six seasons and appearing in the last three.

It’s been an unfathomable run that long ago seemed unsustainable, particularly because of all the NFL does to cultivate parity, and perhaps now it’s going to be at least interrupted.

“At the end of the day,” Mahomes said, “you’ve got to win every game now and hope that’s enough.”

All because even Mahomes near his best isn’t enough for this team right now, rendering what should be another indelible play a footnote.

©2025 The Kansas City Star. Visit kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.