The Bengals wanted it more and yes, they changed some of the coverages in the 2nd half. The defense got into Mahomes's head at the end of the first half and he couldn't overcome that coupled with the Bengals offense getting hot. Mahomes reverted back to the Mahomes that struggled in the first half of the season.


https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/08/08/patrick-mahomes-regrets-playing-not-to-lose-in-second-half-of-afc-championship-game/

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes learned a valuable lesson in the second half of the AFC Championship Game loss to the Bengals: Sometimes when you play not to lose, that makes you lose.

Mahomes told Kevin Clark of TheRinger.com that after jumping out to a big early lead, the Chiefs became so focused on playing it safe that they stopped doing the things that had brought them to that point.

“The second half of that game: I don’t want to say we relaxed, but I mean when you lead like you did, you want to make sure you win the game, but you don’t want to play like you’re playing not to lose,” Mahomes said. “And I feel like that’s what we did. As a team, we were playing not to lose, we were playing just to get to the Super Bowl. If you look, they didn’t do much different from the first half to the second half. We just didn’t execute at a high enough level. They were playing the same coverages and we weren’t executing. Then momentum gets in the other team’s favor and when you’re playing a good football team, bad stuff happens.”

When Mahomes’ third touchdown pass gave the Chiefs a 21-3 lead in the second quarter, it didn’t look like they were going to need to do much more to get to the Super Bowl. After the Chiefs’ 27-24 loss, Mahomes now knows he can’t allow that mentality to take hold in the middle of a game.

(08-08-2022, 02:22 PM)pally Wrote: "If you look, they didn’t do much different from the first half to the second half. We just didn’t execute at a high enough level. They were playing the same coverages and we weren’t executing. Then momentum gets in the other team’s favor and when you’re playing a good football team, bad stuff happens.”

That is not true and I can't tell if he really believes that or is playing it off. 

The amount of late rotations and 8 man drops was night and day from first half to second half. In the 1st half we dropped 8 24% and in the second we did it 45%. I had the stat on the late rotations 1st to 2nd but can't find it now, but it was similarly a pretty strong shift. Maybe he is saying that fundamentally they are the same coverages, which sure there are only so many coverages people play in general but most the "wins" for defenses is how they disguise them pre play and immediately post snap.

Hill trying to run it in for the score at the end of the 1st half certainly didn’t seem like they were “playing not to lose.”

We played a good game and made adjustments in the 2nd half. WTS: Andy Reid is horrible game manager that AFC championship was gift from Andy Reid game management. He is almost Mike Mccarthy level or Staley from the Chargers bad. Marvin was in the bottom 5 in these categories Zach is middle of the pack.

The Bengals both dropped 8 a lot more AND did a lot more of showing one coverage scheme then once the snap happened doing something different. They made Mahomes read and diagnose after the snap and he was terrible at it.

Either Mahomes is not football smart or he is downplaying how the defense stopped him in the 2nd half.

(08-08-2022, 02:28 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Hill trying to run it in for the score at the end of the 1st half certainly didn’t seem like they were “playing not to lose.”

To be fair, that could've been the impetus for them playing not to lose in the 2nd half. Not saying I necessarily agree with the idea that it was MAINLY the Chiefs playing "not to lose", just sayin'.

I call BS. We had just beat them in similar fashion just weeks before this game when we were down big in the first half. Mahommes is just trying to save face. The Bengals defense owned him in that second half of the AFCCG.

Mahomes choked, end of story!

I call BS !

The play at the end of the half took the wind out of their sails and they never recovered. Then add in the switch in D for 2nd half = loss.

(08-08-2022, 03:39 PM)Mer Wrote: I call BS. We had just beat them in similar fashion just weeks before this game when we were down big in the first half. Mahommes is just trying to save face. The Bengals defense owned him in that second half of the AFCCG.

Exactly, they "tried not to lose" against a team that staged a huge comeback against them just weeks before.  And they didn't get motivated when they saw it happening again?  

(08-08-2022, 02:28 PM)Au165 Wrote: That is not true and I can't tell if he really believes that or is playing it off. 

The amount of late rotations and 8 man drops was night and day from first half to second half. In the 1st half we dropped 8 24% and in the second we did it 45%. I had the stat on the late rotations 1st to 2nd but can't find it now, but it was similarly a pretty strong shift. Maybe he is saying that fundamentally they are the same coverages, which sure there are only so many coverages people play in general but most the "wins" for defenses is how they disguise them pre play and immediately post snap.

Beat me to it. That stood out to me, not true at all. Completely different Defenses, that was the entire point and why we had 
his number. You keep him in the pocket so he isn't throwing on the run, you rush 3 and cover well and he struggles. This is 
what you do to Mahomes when on Defense, we did it to him both times he struggled against us in 2nd halves.

Masterful by Lou and executed pretty much to perfection by our players.

Sure, Mahomes had a few misses but that doesn't take away the fact this Defense got in his head.

(08-08-2022, 02:50 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: We played a good game and made adjustments in the 2nd half. WTS: Andy Reid is horrible  game manager that AFC championship was gift from Andy Reid game management. He is almost Mike Mccarthy level or Staley from the Chargers bad. Marvin was in the bottom 5 in these categories Zach is middle of the pack.

Talk about a hot take. 

How horrible of a game manager can a Head Coach be if he's had 18 winning seasons in 23 years, 11 Division titles, 8 Conference Championship games, has been to 3 Super Bowls, is 5th all time for coaching wins, 3rd all time for playoff wins, and is a first ballot Hall of Famer??

Chiefs just had to keep running the ball and they would of won easily IMO

Playing not ton lose? Bro was taking shots downfield all 2nd half and running around trying to be superman. He threw deep into double coverage on 3rd down in overtime and it shoulda been ended by Apple the play before that.. The Bengals defense just has his number..

(08-08-2022, 03:46 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I call BS !

The play at the end of the half took the wind out of their sails and they never recovered. Then add in the switch in D for 2nd half = loss.

Chiefs fans swear Mahomes threw the game. I even heard them saying he had a concussion. They just can't accept losing to the Bengals..

(08-08-2022, 05:48 PM)Tony Wrote: Chiefs fans swear Mahomes threw the game. I even heard them saying he had a concussion. They just can't accept losing to the Bengals..

As I watched the game I thought Mahommes was throwing the game. But after rewatching mulitple times I think we just played good defense and the had some breaks go our way. I believe Mahommes has shown that if you can throw something at him that makes him uncomfortable he will struggle. Maybe thats true with all QBs but the Chiefs spent the 1st part of the season trying to answer what the Bucs did to them in the previous Superbowl.

(08-08-2022, 05:09 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Masterful by Lou and executed pretty much to perfection by our players.

Actually if Lou had "figured out" how to shut down Mahommes the second half of the regular season game then Patrick would not have smoked our asses the first half of the playoff game.

Mahommes admitted that he choked, and the film backs it up.  Kurt Warner did a very detailed breakdown and he showed that Mahommes often had receivers running open or running lanes he could have utilized, but he made a bunch of poor decisions.

We were dropping 8 on plays in the first half and it was not slowing him down.

(08-08-2022, 06:24 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Actually if Lou had "figured out" how to shut down Mahommes the second half of the regular season game then Patrick would not have smoked our asses the first half of the playoff game.

Mahommes admitted that he choked, and the film backs it up.  Kurt Warner did a very detailed breakdown and he showed that Mahommes often had receivers running open or running lanes he could have utilized, but he made a bunch of poor decisions.

We were dropping 8 on plays in the first half and it was not slowing him down.

There's a reason why Mahomes was 'choking' in the 2nd half. Not only did the Bengals drop 8 almost twice as much as they did in the 1st half, but they were also continually, and very effectively, passing off coverage. Even when it appeared he had someone was open, Mahomes was not trusting what he saw. What Lou and the D did in the 2nd half was confuse the hell out of him. There's a reason he looked like a deer in the headlights rookie. It's because he couldn't figure out what the hell he was seeing.

Cant wait to see Patricks face and hear his excuse on December 4th when he loses for a 3rd time within a years time to Joe Burrow and the Bengals.