Watch: Terrible Toney penalty costs Chiefs amazing TD (and game)

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney. Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Terrible Kadarius Toney penalty costs Chiefs amazing TD (and the game)

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 12/11/23

The Kansas City Chiefs have a wide receiver problem. It continued to show itself in Sunday's 20-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills with more drops, bad routes and an overall lack of production.

As bad as all of that was, none of it could compare to the most damaging play of the day from wide receiver Kadarius Toney.

With the Chiefs trailing by a field goal late in the fourth quarter and trying to engineer a scoring drive, the Chiefs appeared to score a go-ahead touchdown on a wild play that saw quarterback Patrick Mahomes complete a long pass to Travis Kelce.

Following his reception, Kelce made the unpredictable decision to throw a pass across the field to Toney who sprinted into the end zone.

It appeared as if the play would give the Chiefs a 23-20 lead with just over a minute to play. The only problem — there was a flag on the play because Toney lined up offsides.

Play was called back but can't believe Kelce tried this

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— NFL (@NFL) December 11, 2023

The Chiefs — and especially Mahomes — were livid with the call, but it was obvious that Toney was lined up in the neutral zone at the snap.

The 2023 season has been dreadful for Toney as he has been plagued by drops and mistakes all year. This play, however, is an entirely different level of poor play.

Dropped balls, fumbles and missed plays are the types of mistakes that can happen during the process of a play. Sometimes you don't make the play. Sometimes the guy that lines up across from you beats you.

That is not the case with pre-snap penalties. Nobody is forcing you into anything or stopping you. Pre-snap penalties are the one thing that players have complete control over.

Making sure you are lined up correctly is the bare minimum expectation of an NFL player.

Mahomes said this week that he still trusts his wide receivers despite their struggles. That trust has to be starting to fade. The Chiefs (8-5) still have the top spot in the AFC West but they are looking at a situation where they might need to do something they are not accustomed to in the Mahomes era if they are going to get back to the Super Bowl — play a playoff game on the road.

The lack of production from the wide receivers is holding them back and making their path to the Super Bowl way more difficult than it should be.

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