KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Throughout the Kansas City Chiefs' Monday night game with the Jacksonville Jaguars, coach Andy Reid often had an incredulous facial expression whenever the officials paused the action.
The Chiefs committed penalty after penalty -- a season-high 13 in total for 103 yards -- in their last-minute loss in Jacksonville. Much of the game proved to be a microcosm of the Chiefs' 2-3 start to this season -- they hurt themselves with self-inflected mistakes and unforced errors that allowed the Jaguars to make the plays that won them the game.
In each of their three losses, the Chiefs have been uncharacteristically undisciplined compared to previous years, a characteristic Reid acknowledged Wednesday has been the most surprising element of this season.
"We've got to take care of that," Reid said. "That's something we've got to fix. It's getting us right now. You can't do that. The best way to [fix it] is you practice it and make sure you get yourself working on those things that have been causing the problems."
The list of things for Reid and his players to fix is long.
In their season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Chiefs' secondary struggled in coverage, including moments in which players ran into each other and allowed receivers to be wide open. Cornerback Jaylen Watson and safety Chamarri Conner were each flagged for pass interference; each penalty became the turning point for two of the Jaguars' touchdowns, including the game-winning score.
The Chiefs' four-man pass rush has been one of the most disappointing groups on the roster. The team's overall pass-rush win rate -- beating a block within 2.5 seconds, according to player tracking data -- is just 37%, which ranks 24th. When the Chiefs had proper coverage, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence countered by using his legs, leading the team with 53 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
"We gave this game away on so many mistakes by us," pass rusher Chris Jones said after the game. "I think this group will bounce back. We're going to fix the errors that we can control. Once we eliminate the penalties and play disciplined, we'll put ourselves in a good position to win."
The Jaguars' final play was an embarrassing moment for the Chiefs' defensive line. With 30 seconds left and the Jaguars at the 1-yard line, Lawrence stumbled under center, but he was still able to get up and scamper across the goal line for the winning score.
"Everyone is kind of scrambling to get him down," said defensive tackle Jerry Tillery, the closest defender who couldn't tackle Lawrence. "He was able to get up and he made a crazy play. That's really a freak play. If we're able to get him down in that moment, we would've made it hard for them."
Jones, who led the defensive line group with 48 snaps on Monday, watched the entire sequence without making a considerable effort to pursue and tackle Lawrence. Before Thursday's practice, Jones addressed his effort on the play.
"It's a teaching point for me, a little adversity," Jones said. "I can't think the play is over. It's a learning lesson. I thought it was over. I thought we had him down, so I kind of stopped and was about to celebrate. Then I realized he wasn't down."
Kicker Harrison Butker has also had moments in which his focus been lacking. Although Butker is the league's highest-paid kicker, he has missed three field goal attempts and two extra-point kicks.
His biggest mistake in Monday's loss was on the kickoff just before the Jaguar's final possession. Instead of successfully pinning one of the two returners close to the goal line and the sideline -- the most suboptimal place to start a return -- Butker's kick toward the right side of the field bounced into the landing zone and then out of bounds, giving the Jaguars the ball at their own 40-yard line.
"Like any golfer, sometimes you're hitting it good and sometimes it's off," Reid said of Butker. "But you work through it. You keep swinging, man. He'll do that. He's a talented kid, he's tough and he's mentally tough. I'm not worried about him."
The Chiefs offense has steadily improved since the season started, but the unit's two giveaways have been momentum-changing mistakes.
In the Week 2 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs were six yards away from taking a 17-13 lead early in the fourth quarter. But the drive's 14th play ended in disaster. A quick pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes bounced off tight end Travis Kelce's hands and into the arms of rookie safety Andrew Mukuba, who returned the interception 41 yards. The Eagles capitalized on the turnover with their lone touchdown of the second half.
Mahomes' lone mistake against the Jaguars proved to be a 14-point swing on the scoreboard.
With the game tied in the third quarter, the Chiefs expected Jacksonville's defense to blitz with the ball on its 3-yard line. The Jaguars, however, bluffed. Mahomes' first true interception this season was a pick-six from linebacker Devin Lloyd, a Kansas City native. Lloyd faked as if he was going to blitz before dropping into zone coverage right in front of receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, the intended target for Mahomes. Lloyd's highlight swung the Jaguars' win probability by 42%, from 28% to 70%, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
Each of the Chiefs' three defeats have come with one-score outcomes. Last season, the Chiefs won 11 one-score games, the most in a single campaign in the league's history.
"We're just not making winning plays in certain moments," Mahomes said Wednesday. "In this league, it's going to come down to one-score games. That's what coach Reid preaches right when we start off training camp every single year. It's about who executes at a higher level and we haven't done that as a team throughout these first five weeks."
Next for the Chiefs is another primetime showdown, this time Sunday night against the Detroit Lions (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), who have won four consecutive games. The Lions' offense, led by quarterback Jared Goff and running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, lead the league in points per game, averaging 34.8.
When studying the film of their upcoming opponent, Reid and Mahomes acknowledged one reason why the Chiefs will be tested against the Lions: They don't commit many undisciplined, unforced errors.
"This is a really good team that we're going to play -- and they play extremely hard," Mahomes said of the Lions. "We have to match that intensity, that mentality and then know it's going to take our best football. We have to go out there and prove it on Sunday."