FRANKFURT, Germany — Patrick Mahomes threw two touchdown passes, safety Bryan Cook scored on a 59-yard fumble return, and the Kansas City Chiefs held on to beat the Miami Dolphins 21-14 on Sunday at Deutsche Bank Park.
The Chiefs (7-2) did barely enough to slow the NFL’s top-ranked offense within the first-ever regular season game in Frankfurt, but nearly blew an enormous lead.
Miami’s comeback fell short when quarterback Tua Tagovailoa couldn’t handle a snap on fourth-and-10 from the Kansas City 31 with 1:03 to play.
Mahomes connected on first-half scoring passes to Rashee Rice and Jerick McKinnon as Miami (6-3) kept getting stuck in third-and-long situations. The Dolphins also fell to 0-3 on the season against teams with winning records.
Mahomes finished 20 of 30 for a season-low 185 yards in his European debut, however the Chiefs’ offense struggled within the second half. Tight end Travis Kelce had just three catches for 14 yards.
Three Chiefs players combined to place Kansas City up 21-0 just before halftime on certainly one of the highest defensive plays of the season to this point.
And it got here on the expense of former teammate Tyreek Hill.
With the Dolphins driving late in the primary half, cornerback Trent McDuffie stuffed Hill on a brief pass within the flat and stripped the ball from the All-Pro receiver. Mike Edwards scooped it up and after Hill tried to tackle him, Edwards lateraled to Cook, who returned it for the rating.
Hill finished with a team-high eight catches for 62 yards.
Taylor Swift was a no-show, as was Miami’s offense early on. The one thing more surprising than Miami’s first-half struggles on offense was referee Clay Martin making a “false start” call in German in the primary quarter.
Miami hadn’t been shut out in the primary half of a game since Week 2 of the 2021 season.
But Tagovailoa got the comeback began with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Cedric Wilson Jr. within the fourth quarter.
Bradley Chubb’s strip-sack of Mahomes then gave Miami the ball on the Kansas City 27, and Raheem Mostert ran it in from 13 yards after an unnecessary roughness call on Chris Jones on a third-and-20 keep the drive alive. Mostert had 12 carries for 85 yards.
Tagovailoa finished 21 of 34 for a season-low 193 yards.