Chiefs vs. Giants score: Kansas City overcomes mistakes to beat New York on late field goal

Live scores, highlights and updates from the Chiefs vs. Giants on 'Monday Night Football'

It wasn't easy, but the Kansas City Chiefs pulled off a 20-17 victory over the New York Giants on "Monday Night Football." 

Kansas City struggled to move the ball throughout the evening, averaging just 4.8 yards per play. Even when the Chiefs did get something going, they undermined themselves with drops, penalties, and turnovers. And yet, given a chance at a game-winning drive with around five minutes left, Patrick Mahomes led the team down the field for a field goal to take a three-point lead. 

The Giants had a chance at a last-ditch drive, but Chris Jones snuffed it out almost all by himself. He got pressures on Daniel Jones on two of New York's four snaps on their final drive, forcing a sack and then causing Jones to attempt to scramble and fumble to end the game. 

Kansas City's record is now even at 4-4, while New York's dropped to 2-6.

Here are some takeaways from Monday's showdown:

Why the Chiefs won

It certainly wasn't because Patrick Mahomes and the offense got back on track. Mahomes did a better job taking what was in front of him at times, frequently dumping it off to Tyreek Hill on short targets to easily outnumber the Giants in total first downs. But the Chiefs defense inexplicably had just as much, if not more, of a hand in surviving New York in prime time. Willie Gay Jr. snagged a Daniel Jones pass early to offset Mahomes' own red-zone pick, Chris Jones emerged with a key sack late, and Kansas City's typically porous secondary refused to let Jones push the ball downfield, save for a single deep ball to John Ross. Some early carries from reserve back Derrick Gore also helped give the Chiefs a first-half edge, but this was a sloppy affair all around, with Steve Spagnuolo's unit just opportunistic enough against a lousy Giants offense.

Why the Giants lost

Where do we start? To be fair, the G-Men were never out of this game, which would've sounded nuts just a month ago. They gutted it out until the end against a more proven team with far superior talent at key spots. Patrick Graham's defense also stepped up throughout the night, keeping Mahomes off-script and generally containing the Chiefs' slumping offense. But once again, Jason Garrett's offense was far too conservative on a night Big Blue should've been eager to take shots, especially on third downs. Joe Judge, meanwhile, hurt his own team with poor clock management, particularly in the fourth quarter. And while Daniel Jones wasn't perfect, taking a bad sack and throwing a bad pick early on, he also had bodies in his face on a regular basis thanks to a shoddy line. Untimely penalties -- another indictment of Judge's coaching, perhaps -- didn't help.

Turning point

On the Chiefs' penultimate offensive possession, Mahomes flung the ball downfield somewhat haphazardly, and the Giants' Darnay Holmes made a leaping grab to secure the Giants' second interception of No. 15 on the night. Only the officials then buzzed New York for an offsides penalty, reversing the turnover. Kansas City proceeded to take the lead with a field goal to cap the drive, and ultimately win the game. The overturned takeaway was an epitome of the night: very ugly for the Chiefs, but still in their favor.

Play of the game

This belongs to John Ross, who got mugged in coverage on a deep heave from Daniel Jones but still managed to come down with the pass, solidifying himself as a surprise deep threat in New York but unfortunately also marking the end of meaningful deep-ball plays for the Giants on Monday:

What's next

The Chiefs (4-4) will stay at home in Week 9 for an even bigger matchup, this one with the Packers (7-1), who will be coming off extra rest following their Thursday night win over Arizona. The Giants (2-6), meanwhile, will return home for a cross-conference showdown with the Raiders (5-2), who lead the AFC West and will be coming off their bye week.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:21 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

That'll do it. The Giants get back to 4-4 and the Giants drop to 2-6. It was way more difficult than it should have been for the Chiefs thanks to their usual diet of turnovers and penalties, but they got the win.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:20 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Giants O-Line gives up just its second sack of the night at the worst possible time. And Daniel Jones absolutely needs to get rid of the ball there. Awful play. Followed by a bad throw that he was lucky Engram let fall to the ground.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:18 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Daniel Jones will have 1:07 to get the Giants into range for a game-tying field goal -- or a game-winning touchdown, but let's be honest, the Giants will play for a field goal.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:18 pm ET · Cody Benjamin]

Does Daniel Jones have a comeback in him? He'll have about a minute to make up this three-point deficit. This is the game here.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:15 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

So the Giants ended up costing themselves 6 seconds by not calling the timeout before the two-minute warning. In a one-possession game, surely that won't come back to haunt them.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:12 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

The Giants should be using their timeout on this side of the two-minute warning. They're giving away 5-10 seconds by waiting it out. 

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:11 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Hardman on the jet sweep with a fake inside zone attached and he just gets out into open space and makes guys miss. About time we saw one of those from the Chiefs tonight. That's usually a staple for them.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:10 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Chiefs are now creeping closer to field-goal range. That's all they need, and they actually have a chance to run the clock down a bit. The Giants do have one more timeout to use, so they can try to keep some time on the clock.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:08 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Oshane Ximines with the ever-so-slight offside penalty takes away a GREAT play by Darnay Holmes. That's a very bad break for the Giants. And then Travis Kelce nearly picks up a first down and gets extra yardage in the form of a facemask. Terrible sequence for the Giants defense.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:07 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

The Chiefs just can't get guys open quickly right now. This is an offense that needs some reimagining so they can get back to timing and rhythm.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:02 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

That Elijah Penny taunting penalty really messed up that drive. Giants had a chance to move into scoring position but instead give the ball to the Chiefs for a four-minute drive.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 11:00 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Nice job by Jones to pull back on the initial throw to Toney that wasn't open and then try Slayton on the outside, but Slayton just dropped it. Yikes.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 10:59 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Darius Slayton was open behind the defense and Jones just hit him in the fingertips. Giants catch a break with a holding penalty on the fake pick route on the outside.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 10:58 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

The Giants love running the ball on second down to try to get themselves to "third-and-manageable." It did not work right there. Third and a long 4 coming.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 10:56 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Elijah Penny got the first down but then cost his team the yards he gained by taunting. Yikes.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 10:54 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

After getting the touchdown on the previous drive, Evan Engram gets this one started with a nice gain on a screen. 

[Nov 1, 2021 at 10:50 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Oh man almost another drive-ending turnover. Trey Smith with a huge fumble recovery to save the field-goal opportunity.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 10:49 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Pretty clearly an incomplete pass to Hardman here. Chiefs fans groaning in the stands are seeing things.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 10:47 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Hey look, an in-rhythm throw for the Chiefs! Funny how that works.

[Nov 1, 2021 at 10:44 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

The Chiefs are being held to 5.2 yards per play. That's below the league average. They need to find solutions to these conservative defenses.