It came down to the wire again, but the Chiefs extended their record to 3-0 with a 22-17 win over the Falcons on Sunday evening football.

Trailing by five, the Falcons had a couple of late chances to score, but they couldn’t make the cut. With just over four minutes left, Kirk Cousins ​​couldn’t connect with tight end Kyle Pitts or Drake London in the end zone from the Kansas City 6-yard line. While officials likely could have called for defensive pass interference on safety Bryan Cook on the throw to Pitts, no one raised a flag.

At that point, the Falcons could have cut Kansas City’s lead to just two points. But head coach Raheem Morris chose to go for it, and it didn’t work out.

But after a three-and-out from Kansas City’s offense, the Falcons got another chance — this time aided by a couple of Chiefs defensive miscues. A hands penalty gave Atlanta a free first down. Then there was a potential defensive pass interference call when receiver Ray-Ray McCloud initiated contact with Trent McDuffie, but the cornerback was still flagged. Finally, a horse collar tackle moved the Falcons to Kansas City’s 22-yard line.

But on third-and-1 with 1:03 left, Tyler Allgeier was stopped just short of the sticks. And on fourth down, linebacker Nick Bolton — who had briefly left the game with a back problem — burst through the line to take down Bijan Robinson for a loss of 3 yards, effectively ending the game.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes had to get creative kneeling to keep the clock running as Atlanta had two timeouts left. On one of them, his foot got a little caught in the grass and he had to shake it off. But Mahomes told NBC’s Melissa Stark after the game that he was fine.

With four drives of at least 11 plays, the Chiefs dominated time of possession for most of the game. The final score was 34:57 to 25:03. Kansas City outscored Atlanta 345 to 311, had 22 first downs to Atlanta’s 19 and was 6 of 14 on third downs, while Atlanta was 2 of 9.

The Falcons held a 7-0 lead when London caught a 14-yard pass to cap the opening drive. But the team was unable to score after Justin Simmons — a former Broncos safety — intercepted Mahomes for the sixth time.

Rashee Rice’s 13-yard touchdown catch from Mahomes tied the score at 7-7. And while Robinson’s 1-yard touchdown gave the Falcons a 14-7 lead, Atlanta would not reach the end zone for the rest of the game.

Though Harrison Butker missed his first extra point since 2022 in the second half, he still connected on field goals of 53, 44 and 21 yards to give the Chiefs a 16-14 lead midway through the third quarter. Then, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was a key player for Kansas City in the team’s 2022 Super Bowl run, caught his first touchdown of the season with 1:16 left in the third quarter to put the visitors up 22-14.

Atlanta’s lone score of the second half came on Younghoe Koo’s 54-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. The length tied a career high for the kicker.

Mahomes finished 26 of 38 for 217 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Rice led the team with 12 catches and 110 yards with a TD. Tight end Travis Kelce caught four passes for 30 yards.

With running back Isiah Pacheco out, rookie Carson Steele led the Chiefs with 17 carries for 72 yards. He also caught a 2-yard pass.

On the other hand, Cousins ​​finished 20 of 29 for 230 yards with a touchdown and an interception. London had six catches for 67 yards with a TD and Darnell Mooney caught all eight of his targets for 66 yards. Robinson finished with just 31 yards on 16 carries, though he did have two receptions for 21 yards.

The Chiefs are now 3-0 and will hit the road again next weekend to take on the Chargers, their division rival, in Los Angeles.

The Falcons (1-2) play at home against the Saints, the rival in the same division.