The Saints injury list got longer, and so did their total in the loss column. But, not without a fight. A fourth rally falls short as New Orleans fell to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, 32-29 Sunday at the Superdome.
Drew Brees threw three touchdown passes, including a 17 yard pass to wide receiver Lil’ Jordan Humphrey with just over two minutes to play that cut Kansas City’s lead to 32-29. But, the Chiefs recovered the onside kick and were able to run out the clock, sealing their 13th win in 14 games this season.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 26 of 47 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns.
Brees threw a third quarter, 24 yard touchdown pass to Latavious Murray, and 14 yards to Alvin Kamara in the fourth quarter. The Saints did not have a first down in the game until early in the second quarter. The Saints were 1 of 9 on third down. Kansas City was 9 of 18.
New Orleans fell to 10-4, but still retained the number 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. Seattle, 10-4 took over the lead in NFC West, but the Saints would still own any tiebreak thanks to a better conference record.
The Saints failed to clinch the NFC South. New Orleans can with a win in one of their final two games, against the Vikings Friday, or in the regular season finale January 3rd at Carolina.
Several Saints had to leave the game due to injury. They included guard Andrus Peat, wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith, and defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
Kansas City won the time of possession 41:14 to 18:46. Kansas City had 34 first downs to New Orleans’ 15.