The defense held up as the Chiefs joined the 1990 49ers as the only teams to start 3-0 after winning back-to-back Super Bowls (San Francisco started 10-0).

“Yeah, I mean, we didn’t play well — I mean, really all three games,” Mahomes said. “We were able to win. That speaks to the character of the team, the determination, how we’ve been in these situations.”

Hollywood Brown’s preseason injury appears to have had a bigger impact on the Chiefs’ passing issues than initially anticipated. Through three games, KC passing attack Rashee Rice was or bust.

Mahomes won his 77th game in his 99th start in Week 3, the most wins by a QB in their first 100 starts since 1950 (Tom Brady, 76).

With defenses bending over backwards to take away the big plays, Mahomes has been forced to throw the ball short. Of his 39 pass attempts on Sunday night, 28 of them were under 10 air yards, according to Next Gen Stats — 22 of 28 for 143 yards and two touchdowns. On passes of 10-plus air yards, Mahomes was just 4 of 8 for 74 yards and an interception.

Part of the offensive struggles to open the season came with a quiet Travis Kelce. The star tight end caught four of five targets for 30 yards Sunday night. For the season, Kelce has 69 yards on eight catches with no scores.

“Yeah, it’s crazy, because teams still have — the respect they have for Travis is just unreal,” Mahomes said when asked about Kelce’s quiet night. “It’s well-deserved, but we call a lot of plays for Travis, and it’s like two or three people go to him. So, I mean, he gets it. I think that’s the great thing about him, is he wants to make an impact on the game, but he wants to win at the end of the day. I’m going to do my best to keep getting him the ball when he’s there, when he’s open. But I think the more plays Rashee makes, the more we can run the ball, the more we can get (Xavier) Worthy involved, that’s going to open Travis up more. I mean, people are really stressing about taking him away, and it opens up other guys.”

It’s not unusual for offenses to take time to get going. At least the back-to-back Super Bowl champions are piling up wins as Mahomes and Andy Reid figure out their formula for 2024.