The Kansas City Chiefs were their own worst enemy in the 31-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, with their costly penalty issues again plaguing them.

A total of 10 penalties were committed by the Chiefs, and most on the defensive side of the ball, as Trent McDuffie had his hands full with CeeDee Lamb, with multiple pass interference calls.

Now at 6-6 and their playoff hopes nearly over, the Chiefs will have to lick their wounds and get ready for the Houston Texans next week.

But this will be a tough defeat to swallow for Kansas City, so what is Andy Reid’s message to the team?

“The guys know, they understand we’ve got to clean up a few things,” Reid said. “We got to do better as coaches, got to do better as players. You go back to the drawing board, and you keep working. We were close here, but we had too many opportunities that we gave away. Two good teams playing each other, you can’t have those things.”

Chiefs have to fix penalty issue

The Chiefs, coming into the game against the Cowboys, were the sixth-most penalized team in football with 86.

That number now rockets up to 96 and puts them second behind the Cowboys, and that is odd because we have become accustomed to the Chiefs being a buttoned-up team, and not beating themselves.

Well, at AT&T Stadium, the Chiefs did their best to help Dallas win that game, and Brian Schottenheimer’s team took full advantage to nearly dash Kansas City’s playoff hopes.

Reid stating the team has to go “back to the drawing board” isn’t what you want to hear 12 weeks into the season, but right now, that feels like the only lever Kansas City can pull.

Things are bleak for the defending AFC champs, and there might not be too much light at the end of the 2025 tunnel.