Mahomes, who once more had a game he’d like to revise, overshot an open Travis Kelce, the pass intercepted by cornerback Kristian Fulton. (Kelce had his best day this year, with 7 catches for 89 yards.)

How the Chiefs bristled their way back after the bizarre and deflating play on which Rice suffered what figures to be a long-term knee injury, a play that soon left them down 10-0, was fresh testimony to what we should now accept as fact … Both for its reassuring upside and unsettling downside.