Winners and Losers of KC Chiefs’ Week 12 Victory Over the Carolina Panthers

Just like that, Kansas City Chiefs They are winners once again after their clutch victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

It wasn’t a pretty victory for the reigning Super Bowl champions; That’s for sure. After taking a solid lead in the second half, the Kansas City offense faltered a bit and its defense struggled to contain the Panthers’ poor offense all afternoon. But in the end, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the club’s new starter saved the day and Preserved Chiefs’ 10th win of the season.

With that in mind, let’s break down some of the Chiefs’ biggest winners and losers from Week 12 of the regular season.

For the second week in a row, tight end Noah Gray Which brings us here as a clear winner of Week 12. The fourth-year forward posted his second straight game with at least four receptions and added a couple more on Sunday. In just 11 games, Gray has already set personal records for receiving yards (315), first downs (20) and touchdowns (4) over the course of a season. It’s worth wondering where the Chiefs’ offense would be without Gray.

Chamarri hasn’t been too kind to Conner this past month. The converted safety has been spending most of his time in the slot as Kansas City’s cornerback this year, which isn’t an experiment that’s worked out very well. Although Conner faltered on a screen pass for the second time on Sunday, he missed an interception on a jet sweep and was beaten twice by Panthers wideout Adam Thielen in the fourth quarter. One of the plays was a pass interference call in the end zone that gave Carolina a first-and-goal opportunity. If you add in the holding call that negated Mecole Hardman’s 16-yard punt return, it’s easy to see how Conner negatively impacted Week 12.

What a month it’s been for undrafted rookie shooting guard Spencer Shrader. Not only is the former Notre Dame standout still perfect on field goal attempts this year, but he now has a game-winner on his resume. Thanks to Mahomes helping get the offense in scoring position late in Sunday’s game, Shrader capitalized with a 31-yard field goal as time expired to give the Chiefs another victory. Shrader is grateful for the opportunity he had with a struggling team and Harrison Butker continues to recover Kansas City may have found an adequate replacement due to his injury.

Safety Justin Reid fell victim to some tough conditions on Sunday. First, he was tackled deep down the field by rookie Xavier Legette on an absolute dime pass by Bryce Young for a 34-yard gain. He then got lost in traffic on a 36-yard play against Thielen where the entire defense fumbled. Reid was also caught playing too deep (and linebacker Nick Bolton potentially playing too shallow) on a third-down conversion in the second half. The final nail in the coffin was a questionable, unnecessary roughing call on a two-point conversion attempt. Reid had a hand in that effort, too, in a game where Steve Spagnuolo’s defense struggled tremendously.

In what has been an up-and-down season for Mahomes, Sunday was one of the highlights of the 2024-25 season. The two-time MVP looked comfortable and confident throughout most of the game; made shots on target and even extended games. His 33-yard scramble in the fourth quarter led to the aforementioned Shrader kick and was just one of many instances where Mahomes put the Chiefs on his back. Despite getting little help from the offensive line (more on that soon), he looked a lot more like the NFL’s best quarterback in Week 12.

If a quarterback gets sacked five times, it’s hard not to look at the offensive line to figure out what went wrong, especially considering how good Mahomes is at avoiding hits. Kansas City struggled with stunts and poor tackling play on both ends in Week 12. Wanya Morris appeared to be working at times; DJ Humphries He may be seeing the field after all. On the right side, Trey Smith and Jawaan Taylor’s mismatch continues to show, and both received expensive penalties on Sunday. Even left guard Joe Thuney committed a rare infraction. Mahomes was sacked three times in the fourth quarter, subsequently giving the Panthers a chance to get back into the game. The Chiefs need to play better from their front five.

Samaje Perine may be a depth player at running back, but he made the most of his limited role on Sunday. In addition to breaking a 13-yard run and a 13-yard reception against Carolina, he also returned a kickoff 56 yards to open the game. Considering players like Carson Steele haven’t done much on the secondary, perhaps moving forward with Perine could help moving forward. With Clyde Edwards-Helaire is a healthy scratch And Return of Isiah Pacheco Perine plans to maintain some sort of shortened workload and maximize those reps.

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