Patrick Mahomes gives blunt assessment of Chiefs' playoff hopes after loss to Cowboys: 'Have to win them all'

There's no margin for error the rest of the way for the Kansas City Chiefs, according to quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who threw four touchdown passes during Thursday's 31-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. At 6-6 overall, the defending AFC champions have a steep mountain to climb to reach the playoffs with five games left in the regular season. The Chiefs haven't missed the postseason since 2014.

"We're going to play a lot of good teams coming up," Mahomes said after the loss. "If we're going to make the playoffs, we're going to have to win them all. That's got to be the mindset when we step into the [team facility] when we get back."

Every matchup the rest of the way is a playoff-elimination game according to Mahomes, whose team has deteriorated since a 5-3 start. The Chiefs have lost three of the their last four games and dropped to 1-6 this season in one-possession contests.

"You've got to win every game now -- and hope that's enough," Mahomes said.

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Prior to the Thanksgiving loss in Dallas, the Chiefs were 12-0 in the Mahomes era when he's thrown four touchdown passes in a game. Kansas City took a 21-20 lead with 14:51 left in the fourth quarter on Mahomes' fourth-down touchdown pass to Rashee Rice, but the Cowboys scored on their next two possessions to push ahead by 10 points.

Mahomes pulled the Chiefs to within three points with 3:27 to play after a scoring toss Hollywood Brown, but Kansas City never got the ball back. 

"We can beat anybody, but we've shown that we can lose to anybody," Mahomes said after throwing for 261 yards. "We've got to be more consistent. We've had big plays and we've had runs where we can really score at any time, but we've got to be consistent for four quarters, especially when you play good teams and they have a good offense."

The Chiefs scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the game before punting on their next four drives prior to Mahomes' touchdown pass to Rice.

Dallas (6-5-1) has won three straight games with Dak Prescott playing at an MVP level. Eight of Prescott's 25 touchdown passes this season have come during this current winning streak for the Cowboys. Dallas is two games back of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East while the Chiefs fell to ninth in the AFC's playoff discussion, two games back of the final postseason spot.

"They're the same desperation that we are and they play better over four quarters than we did," Mahomes said. "So even though we have good plays here and there, we have be more consistent at the end of the day."

Chiefs' remaining schedule

Kansas City plays two of the NFL's worst teams over the final three weeks of the regular season, but the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos are sandwiched between those matchups. And that's a short rest game on Christmas Day, coming a couple days after a trip to Nashville.

The Chiefs are 0-2 this season against the Broncos and Chargers with both games decided in the fourth quarter.