The longest Chiefs TD pass this year came after Patrick Mahomes called the wrong play

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes first looked to his left, but all he saw was congestion.

His fault.

And that quick look provided his first realization of it.

For now, though, he turned to scramble mode. Literally. He rolled right to buy a little more time, and so wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling rolled along with him — about 20 yards downfield. Plenty of space over there, which, ironically, was Mahomes’ fault, too.

For now, though, Mahomes ripped the pass that hit Valdes-Scantling in stride. And a couple of seconds later Valdes-Scantling was diving across the goal line for the Chiefs’ first touchdown in a 31-17 win Sunday against the Chargers.

That’s the description of the Chiefs’ longest touchdown pass this season — of their only touchdown pass that traveled at least 20 yards in the air, if you can believe that.

It wasn’t by design.

And it especially wasn’t by this design.

Mahomes nailed the ending. He screwed up the beginning.

In the huddle, Mahomes would later reveal, he called the wrong assignment for his running back, Jerick McKinnon.

“In all honesty,” Mahomes said, “the running back was supposed to go out the other way, and I called it the wrong way.”

The play design tasked McKinnon to flank Mahomes on the left side, but Mahomes called for McKinnon to instead line up on his right. There was even a play-action handoff involved, after which McKinnon leaked into the flat.

One problem. Because he started on the incorrect side, he ran the route to the wrong side of the field, too. He and tight end Noah Gray found themselves separated by only a few blades of grass. In all, four Chiefs options on the play — Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore too — were stationed in similar territory on the left side.

A jumbled mess.

Before the clean ending.

While it’s in the box score as a 46-yard touchdown pass, there will be more than a few points made about the play’s execution during film review this week.

But it should include a key compliment too. The Chiefs perfectly performed the scramble drill with a downfield throw, rather than using a throwaway as the escape hatch. They didn’t just make something out of nothing; they made something out of a mistake that should have killed the play from the jump.

That’s a concept Mahomes has mastered, but it’s been less prevalent this season — with his arm anyway — as most defenses elect to keep their safeties in a different area code than the line of scrimmage.

“I was on the other side of the field. He got some pressure. I kind of just worked with him and ran to the other side of the field,” Valdes-Scantling said. “He saw me. We made eye contact. I said, ‘Hey, throw me the ball,’ and he threw it to me.”

No big deal, if you listened to the matter-of-fact tone of Valdes-Scantling’s reply.

But there’s actually a lot more to it, and not just the mix-up in the huddle.

As I referenced earlier, teams have been keen on preventing the Chiefs’ scramble drills from turning into big shots down the field. Actually, they’ve been preventing any shots down the field from Mahomes. He is just 10-of-29 on throws 20-plus yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

So what set this one up? It wasn’t just one unique scramble at the right moment.

It’s the collection of them in the past.

Mahomes has rushed for 16 first downs this season, none of them by design. With 10 games left, he is already just nine first downs shy of a career-high. The scrambles are arriving at an unprecedented rate in a Mahomes offense, and the Chargers apparently took some notice of that.

It didn’t help.

Actually, it cost them.

If you take one more look at the play from Sunday, it appears as though one Chargers player — one who could have put a stop to the touchdown — expected another Mahomes run.

As Mahomes’ rollout approached the line, Chargers safety Derwin James made the decision to vacate his spot and charge toward him. You know, to prevent yet one more first down with his legs.

Then Mahomes used his first weapon instead.

“I think those runs have started to work,” Mahomes said. “Now defenses are coming up when I scramble.”

Damned if you do.

Damned if you don’t.