![\"KC](\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/sports\/nfl\/kansas-city-chiefs\/zf0cin\/picture295715554\/alternates\/LANDSCAPE_1140\/Chiefs-Bolton.jpg\")
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Following \u201cM-V-P\u201d chants for quarterback Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills fans continued their party scene late into the night following Sunday afternoon\u2019s 30-21 home victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n
Blue-clad supporters first danced in the aisles during the final seconds of the team\u2019s win. Then, more than two hours after the game, they shot off fireworks in surrounding neighborhoods, with the sparks rising high above Highmark Stadium.<\/p>\n
For a Bills fan base haunted by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the postseason, Sunday\u2019s celebration was almost that of winning a mini-Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs, however, did not act afterward as if the stakes were the same on the other end.<\/p>\n
KC\u2019s players were disappointed, to be sure, following the team\u2019s first loss of the season Sunday, which halted a 9-0 start and also marked the team\u2019s first defeat since Christmas Day 2023.<\/p>\n
But the Chiefs also weren\u2019t shying from tough questions in the locker room \u2014 or shirking responsibility \u2014 for the errors that led to their first setback this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve been in this league long enough, you understand wins and losses happen,\u201d Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton said. \u201cIt\u2019s about what you do afterwards. So you\u2019ve got to grow \u2014 as a team, as a unit \u2014 and find ways to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the Chiefs\u2019 defense specifically, that will start with working to eliminate small mistakes that added up.<\/p>\n
KC\u2019s defense surrendered 30 points for the first time in nearly two seasons. The last time a team put up that point total was Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles in February 2023.<\/p>\n
![\"KC](\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/latest-news\/q0v5s8\/picture295709484\/alternates\/LANDSCAPE_1140\/USATSI_24787559.jpg\")
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Bolton listed a few technical errors he saw Sunday:<\/p>\n
\u2022 The team not keeping its pass rush balanced with players in the correct spots;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Not playing with correct leverage to keep offensive players contained.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the game progresses,\u201d Bolton said, \u201cthose things magnify.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bolton also said Sunday solidified how small the margin of error can be in the NFL \u2014 especially when facing a talent like Allen on the other side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s eye-opening for us in terms of just, you can\u2019t let three or four mistakes in a game lead to 16, 20, points,\u201d Bolton said. \u201cSo you\u2019ve got to figure out a way to knock those out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiefs safety Justin Reid said third downs stood out most to him. Buffalo converted nine of their 14 attempts on third downs, with five coming when the Bills faced eight yards or more to gain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we get off the field on third down, it\u2019s a totally different landscape of a game,\u201d Reid said. \u201cThere\u2019s too many opportunities we had them on third-and-long, third and Josh being Josh, he makes a play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chiefs have had losses serve them well before. Perhaps no better example was last season\u2019s home defeat against the Las Vegas Raiders, which forced KC to make needed changes offensively to simplify things.<\/p>\n
Reid said the team could gain a similar spark from Sunday\u2019s adversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s absolutely what this needs to be. It needs to be something that we build off of,\u201d Reid said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that we need \u2014 a reality check for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid said he knew coaches and teammates well enough that they would learn from the Bills loss and build from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to use it as a stepping stone,\u201d Reid said, \u201cto go where we really want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chiefs losing their undefeated season might also re-frame the season in a way that can be productive.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Sunday\u2019s result reinforced to him that the offense needed to have more urgency, especially at the beginning of games.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that starts with me,\u201d Mahomes said.<\/p>\n
Cornerback Trent McDuffie, meanwhile, said the team had continued to win the past few weeks while overcoming \u201ca few little mental mistakes\u201d defensively.<\/p>\n
He said a loss can be an appropriate moment to refocus. \u201cWhen you\u2019re doing good, I feel like a lot of things sometimes can almost be overlooked,\u201d McDuffie said. \u201c … So I think we can take this moment to just see who we are as a team and learn from it and continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even some of the Chiefs\u2019 top performers were vowing to improve. That included cornerback Chamarri Conner, who had an interception and also finished as one of the Chiefs\u2019 top-two graded defenders in Pro Football Focus\u2019 preliminary grades Sunday.<\/p>\n
Conner still stood in front of his locker while telling reporters, \u201cI feel like I played bad,\u201d believing he could\u2019ve done a better job with his tackling.<\/p>\n
\u201cGonna learn from it, gonna get back in the lab,\u201d<\/p>\n
Conner said, \u201cand we\u2019re gonna come back stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal, a few cubbies to Conner\u2019s left, said he had a specific way he wanted to use this loss: As fuel to motivate him for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember this feeling,\u201d<\/p>\n
Chenal said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been kind of living up here a little bit. Remember the feeling and how much it hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following \u201cM-V-P\u201d chants for quarterback Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills fans continued their party scene late into the night following Sunday afternoon\u2019s 30-21 home victory over the Kansas… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8764,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n