Struggling Chiefs QB Mahomes says: "I've got to be better"

Patrick Mahomes frankly told his Kansas City Chiefs team-mates he has "got to be better" after enduring a nightmare outing in a defeat to the Tennessee Titans last Sunday.

Mahomes left a 27-3 Week 7 defeat midway through the fourth quarter after taking an inadvertent shot to the head from Tennessee's Jeffery Simmons while being dragged down by Denico Autry. 

The star quarterback cleared the NFL's concussion protocol, but he did not return to the field as the Chiefs slumped to 3-4 in the AFC West.

Mahomes had a career-low 62.3 passer rating before his exit, while he also lost a fumble and threw his ninth interception of the season, tying him for the league lead.

He threw just 11 interceptions across 29 games over the past two regular seasons combined.

The 2018 MVP has made four fumbles, as well as being sacked nine times in the past three weeks and he knows he must raise his game ahead of a showdown with the New York Giants at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday.

Mahomes tells Chiefs team mates he must improve

"You can just watch the tape and know that I need to play better in order to have success,"' Mahomes said on Thursday.

"There were plays [against the Titans] where guys were open. There were plays where we had matchups down the field that I didn't hit, that I usually would give those guys opportunities to make plays.

"I've said something to them that I've got to be better. At the same time, they have that mindset that they're going to try to build me up.

"It's a thing where you're not going to play your best game every single game, and that's when you have to rely on your other guys to kind of step up and make plays for you."

Since Mahomes became the full-time starting QB in 2018, Kansas City have not had more than 18 giveaways in a full season, but they are only one shy of that tally already.

Mahomes knows what he must do in order to get back to the peak of his powers.

"It's just stuff that I've always got to work on and I kind of lose sometimes during the season and have to get better with," the 26-year-old said.

"It's hanging in the pocket, working on my footwork, staying on time, all that stuff like that.

"You see it kind of get me in certain games every single year, and it's something I have to go back to and learn from and be better at. There were times where I maybe could have stepped and found a soft spot in the pocket where [instead] I kind of got out of there and tried to make something happen.

"Whenever we don't get going as an offense, it's usually because I'm doing little things like that."