Chiefs’ Xavier Worthy identifies what went wrong in close games last season
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
The Kansas City Chiefs won a lot of close games two seasons ago.
Last season, many of those games went the other way.
Wide receiver Xavier Worthy believes discipline and attention to detail were part of the difference.
“It’s just working the little things,” Worthy said Wednesday. “I feel like last year we kind of weren’t paying attention to that like we were the first year.”
There are numbers that illustrate some of those issues.
The Chiefs were called for 119 penalties totaling 951 yards during the 2025 regular season. Kansas City receivers were also credited with 30 dropped passes, tied for the third-most in the NFL.
The Chiefs’ 5.1% drop rate was tied for the fourth-highest in the league.
Some of Kansas City’s most heavily penalized games came in close losses. The Chiefs committed 13 penalties for 109 yards in a three-point loss to Jacksonville, 10 penalties for 69 yards in a three-point loss to Denver and 10 penalties for 119 yards in a three-point loss to Dallas.
Worthy said offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has spoke on discipline since returning to Kansas City.
“Like EB says all the time, it’s the discipline,” Worthy said. “So I feel like we didn’t have discipline in those times.”
For Worthy, those mistakes become magnified in a league where games are often decided by only a few plays.
“You go back and look at the first year, we won a lot of those close, one-point games,” Worthy said. “You go back and look at last year, we lost those games.”
The Chiefs finished 6-11.
“That’s just the margin in the league,” Worthy said. “Every game is so close. So just coming out and being disciplined and winning those games.”