ATLANTA – If a team hasn’t played well in any of its games, if its quarterback can’t handle his own game, or if the team allows two red zone drives in the final five minutes, then in most cases that team is headed for a losing record.

And then there are the Kansas City Chiefs, who have to endure all of that… and are still 3-0, one of the five remaining undefeated teams in the league.

The two-time defending world champions played just well enough to win on Sunday night, beating the Atlanta Falcons 22-17 in a game whose outcome was uncertain until the final 56 seconds. Without its star running back and against a Falcons team that vacillated between lethal and self-destructive, Kansas City relied heavily on its experience to escape Atlanta with a victory that would have eluded most teams.

“Yeah, we have a lot of things to work on,” head coach Andy Reid said after the game, without elaborating.

He praised the work of his defense, which forced Atlanta into two turnovers inside the Chiefs’ 13-yard line in the game’s final minutes. But he left unmentioned Kansas City’s problems, such as the continued difficulty getting the ball to Travis Kelce or mistakes like a three-and-out late in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line. Reid certainly noticed them, but he’s not going to expose Kansas City’s weaknesses in a public forum.

Patrick Mahomes, on the other hand, doesn’t hold back.

“We didn’t play well, I mean, really, all three games,” he said after Sunday night’s game. “We were able to win, (and) that speaks to the character of the team, the determination, how we’ve performed in these situations before. But I’ll speak – especially offensively and I myself feel like I didn’t play very well.”

Mahomes completed 26 of 39 passes for 217 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He had no problem passing the ball in small chunks; Kansas City dominated Atlanta in time of possession for most of the game and ended up with a nearly 10-minute lead, 34-57 to 25-03.

But Mahomes had trouble hitting the long passes. His longest was a 25-yard pass to Rashee Rice. On Kansas City’s first drive, he floated an ugly interception in the end zone to his eternal nemesis Justin Simmons. The Chiefs relied heavily on Harrison Butker’s foot, kicking three field goals on four possessions in the second and third quarters. Mahomes had no trouble finding the open man, but his play had a very un-Mahomes-like vibe.

He knows that vibes aren’t reflected in the score sheet or even in advanced metrics. But he knows something is wrong.

“It has nothing to do with statistics,” Mahomes said of his frustration. “I just feel like I’m missing opportunities when they’re out there and not throwing the ball exactly where I want it to go.”

“He’s the best quarterback I’ve ever played with,” Rice said, “so if he feels like he didn’t play well, I feel the same way.” (FYI: Rice was the top receiver with 12 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.)

The defense held up its end of the bargain, stopping one Falcons drive after another. Linebacker Nick Bolton stopped the game by catching Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson in the backfield on fourth-and-1 with less than a minute left, ending the Falcons’ last hopes. He then gave the Chiefs credit for their weekly preparation.

“Two minutes, four minutes, whatever we have, man, go out there and execute it,” Bolton said. “Just trust the work.”

The Chiefs have won three games by a combined 13 points. But the key part of that sentence is not “13,” it’s “won.” The NFL is in chaos right now. The teams predicted to have a shot at the Super Bowl are 1-2. The teams predicted to struggle are undefeated. But the Chiefs and Mahomes remain the constant, the benchmark, the goal.

The Chiefs have two of the most unpredictable teams of 2024 – the Chargers (2-1) and the Saints (2-1) – on the schedule before their off week, and then a Super Bowl rematch against San Francisco. If they play like they have so far, it could cost them all three games, or they could win all three games … but with this “good enough is good enough” ball, they’re not likely to have any blowouts anytime soon.

“Fortunately, I’m not playing my best football and we’re still getting wins,” Mahomes said. “I have to get better to improve the offense.”

The fact that Kansas City is struggling, by the standards of its star, and still winning, should be a warning sign to the rest of the league. If the Chiefs can get through this rough patch and still win games, a third straight win could be the least of the league’s problems with Kansas City.