Trevor Lawrence’s Late Heroics Lift Jaguars Over Chiefs, 31–28

by Jake Lax, October 07, 2025

The Kansas City Chiefs traveled to Jacksonville, Florida, to take on the Jaguars on Monday Night Football. The Chiefs looked to extend their win streak to three games after beating the Baltimore Ravens last week 37 to 20, in a dominating win. As for the Jaguars, they’re off to a very good start this season, going 3-1 through the first four weeks and beating the 49ers in a hard-fought victory last week.

The final game of week five kicked off with the Jaguars taking the ball to start against a stellar Kansas City defense. The Chiefs’ defense set the tone early, forcing a three-and-out on the opening drive and quieting down EverBank Stadium. As Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense took the field, they got going quickly, completing 4 straight passes on their opening drive. Mahomes was able to find Tyquan Thornton for a big 24-yard gain and tight end Travis Kelce twice, setting up Kansas City around midfield. An illegal formation penalty and the first incomplete pass from Mahomes forced the Chiefs into a 4th down punt. The incompletion came on a great play by Jaguars rookie dual-threat Travis Hunter, who broke up a pass to Travis Kelce. Hunter has started to play more snaps on both sides of the field, at both wide receiver and cornerback, making his presence known. Following the Chiefs’ 4th down punt, their defense stayed strong, forcing another three-and-out from the struggling Jaguars offense.

On the Chiefs’ second drive, they kept moving the ball downfield. Patrick Mahomes found wide receivers Xavier Worthy and JuJu Smith-Schuster for gains of 9 and 8 yards on back-to-back plays, moving them downfield. Running back Isiah Pacheco got his feet moving, picking up a big 16-yard rush as well. The big play came on 3rd and 9, where Mahomes completed a deep pass while getting tackled to the ground. The catch was made by Tyquan Thornton for 32 yards and a first down. This set the Chiefs up right at the Jacksonville goal line, where Mahomes was able to find his guy, Travis Kelce, for a 2-yard touchdown pass.

Down 7-0, the Jaguars’ offense came back onto the field looking to get anything going against the Kansas City defense. This time, quarterback Trevor Lawrence, on his 26th birthday, was able to get the Jaguars offense rolling. Lawrence completed three passes on the drive for 49 yards, getting Jacksonville all the way down to the goal line. The Jaguars struggled to get it into the endzone in three plays, which set them up for a 4th and goal from the one-yard line. Lawrence attempted to jump the pile and drive into the endzone, where Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton slapped the ball out of Lawrence’s hands before it crossed the goal line, giving Kansas City possession. The Chiefs’ offense got back on the field and made no mistakes, taking the ball 97 yards in just 5 plays. It was a 33-yard rush from Kareem Hunt and another big catch from Tyquan Thornton that set up the Chiefs at the Jaguars’ 9-yard line. Patrick Mahomes took it from here, running the ball in for a 9-yard touchdown to put Kansas City up 14-0.

Jacksonville’s offense took the field again, and it seemed as if they didn’t score on this drive, this game would get out of hand. A couple of costly penalties by the Chiefs’ defense kept the drive moving for the Jaguars, where Lawrence was able to make some big plays rushing and throwing the ball. As the drive kept working its way to the red zone, running back Travis Etienne brought them all the way to the 3-yard line on a couple of rushes. Trevor Lawrence was then able to get his birthday gift by throwing a 3-yard touchdown pass to Parker Washington, cutting the lead to 7.

The Chiefs’ offense took the ball to start the second half and had their first three-and-out of the game. As the Jaguars came back on the field, looking to tie the game. Running back Travis Etienne got them a quick 15 yards before the big 44-yard pass from Lawrence to Travis Hunter. The Jaguars got into the red zone, where Trevor Lawrence took a tough 10-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 14. As Kansas City got the ball back, Mahomes started slinging it, finding 4 different receivers as the Chiefs’ offense went 65 yards all the way down to the goal line. From the 3-yard line, Patrick Mahomes looked into the endzone and tried to hit JuJu Smith-Schuster, where the ball was intercepted by Devin Lloyd. Lloyd sprinted down the field, taking the interception all the way down to the other endzone, scoring a 99-yard pick-six!

This brought the Jaguars a 21-14 lead going into the fourth quarter. Forcing a Chiefs punt on the next drive, Jacksonville had a chance to close out the game. Instead, they did the exact opposite. Trevor Lawrence was pressured by George Karlaftis and threw an interception to Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie. This set up Kansas City in the red zone, where a quick 14-yard pass to Travis Kelce led to a 5-yard touchdown run for Kareem Hunt, tying the game at 21. The Jaguars fought right back, leaning on Etienne to run the ball down the field. The drive ultimately stalled on a 4th down in Kansas City’s territory, where Jaguars kicker Cam Little hit a 52-yard field goal, giving Jacksonville the lead right back.

The Chiefs put together another methodical drive, running the ball with Pacheco and completing short passes to many different receivers. Kansas City worked their way all the way down to the Jacksonville 29-yard line as the two-minute warning hit. Mahomes was then able to find Hollywood Brown for a 20-yard pass, on a great catch by Brown, keeping both feet in bounds. Then running back Kareem Hunt was able to punch in another touchdown, giving the Chiefs a 28-24 lead as time was running out for the Jaguars.

Luckily for Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence wasn’t going to go down quietly. With a little over 1 minute left in the game Lawrence made every play he possibly could to help the Jaguars move downfield. The big one was a 33-yard pass to Brian Thomas Jr., which was thrown right in the pocket, leading Thomas Jr. to the sideline and out of bounds to save time on the clock. Lawrence completed another pass, this time a 13-yard pass to Dyami Brown with 40 seconds left. With 30 seconds left, Lawrence took a shot to the endzone looking for Brian Thomas Jr., where his pass was intercepted, but fortunately for the Jaguars, there was a defensive pass interference called, keeping the game alive and setting them up on the Kansas City goal line. Trevor Lawrence took the snap, looking to hand off, but he tripped over his right guard and went down behind the line of scrimmage! It looked like the play was completely broken, but somehow Lawrence got back up, escaped the defense, and took off. Against all odds, he dives into the end zone for a touchdown! The Jaguars had a 31–28 lead with just 20 seconds left. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs had one last chance, but a holding penalty on the kickoff return was going to hurt them. They ended up only getting 3 plays off before attempting a Hail Mary, which ended up falling short. The Jaguars took this one 31-28, moving to 4-1 on the season. Trevor Lawrence finished with 3 total touchdowns on his birthday, throwing for 1 and rushing for 2. As for the Chiefs, they’ll move to 2-3 and have some work to do in the coming weeks. Patrick Mahomes finished with 318 passing yards and 60 rushing yards, also adding a touchdown on the ground and in the air. Running back Kareem Hunt finished with 2 touchdowns on the ground and 49 rushing yards. On Sunday, the Jaguars will be home again to face the Seattle Seahawks, looking to keep their momentum going. As for the Chiefs, it’ll get more difficult from here as they face the 4-1 Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football.