On Sunday night, the Chiefs held on for a 22-17 victory against the Falcons.

The game came down to a hair’s breadth once again, but the Chiefs improved to 3-0 with a 22-17 victory over the Falcons on Sunday Night Football.

Trailing by five points, the Falcons had a few late scoring chances but couldn’t capitalize on them. With just over four minutes left, Kirk Cousins ​​failed to touch tight end Kyle Pitts or Drake London in the end zone from the Kansas City 6-yard line. While the referees probably could have called defensive interference on safety Bryan Cook on the pass to Pitts, no one brought out the flag.

At that point, the Falcons could have cut Kansas City’s lead to just two points. But head coach Raheem Morris chose to take a chance, and it didn’t work out.

But after a three-and-out by the Kansas City offense, the Falcons had another opportunity — this time aided by some defensive miscues by the Chiefs. An illegal use of hands penalty gave Atlanta a free first down. Then there was a possible defensive pass interference call, when receiver Ray-Ray McCloud initiated contact with Trent McDuffie, but the cornerback was flagged anyway. Finally, a horse-collar tackle moved the Falcons to the Kansas City 22-yard line.

But on third-and-1 with 1:03 left, Tyler Allgeier was stopped in his tracks. And on fourth down, linebacker Nick Bolton, who had briefly left the game with a back problem, hit the line to bring down Bijan Robinson for a 3-yard loss, ending the game.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes had to get creative in getting down on his knees and running out the clock because Atlanta had two timeouts left. On one of them, he got his foot stuck in the turf and had to shake it out. But Mahomes told NBC’s Melissa Stark after the game that he was just fine.

With four series of at least 11 plays, the Chiefs dominated the time of possession for most of the game, with the final score being 34:57 to 25:03. Kansas City outscored Atlanta 345 to 311, had 22 first downs to Atlanta’s 19, and was 6 of 14 on third downs to Atlanta’s 2 of 9.

The Falcons led 7-0 when London caught a 14-yard TD pass to cap the opening drive. But the team couldn’t score after former Broncos safety Justin Simmons intercepted Mahomes for the sixth time.

Rashee Rice’s 13-yard touchdown reception from Mahomes tied the score at 7-7. And even though Robinson’s one-yard touchdown run gave the Falcons a 14-7 advantage, Atlanta didn’t reach the end zone the rest of the game.

Although Harrison Butker missed his first extra point since 2022 in the second half, he made field goals of 53, 44 and 21 yards to give the Chiefs a 16-14 advantage midway through the third quarter. Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was a key player for Kansas City during the team’s run to the 2022 Super Bowl, caught his first touchdown of the season with 1:16 left in the third quarter to give the visitors a 22-14 lead.

Atlanta’s only second-half try came on a 54-yard field goal by Younghoe Koo early in the fourth quarter. The length tied a career high for the scorer.

Mahomes finished the game with 26 completions of 38 attempts for 217 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Rice led the team with 12 receptions for 110 yards with a TD. Tight end Travis Kelce had four catches for 30 yards.

In the absence of running back Isiah Pacheco, rookie Carson Steele led the Chiefs with 17 carries for 72 yards. He also caught a 2-yard TD pass.

On the other side, Cousins ​​finished with 20 of 29 passes for 230 yards with a touchdown and an interception. London had six receptions for 67 yards with a TD and Darnell Mooney caught all eight of his targets for 66 yards. Robinson finished with just 31 yards on 16 carries, though he did have two receptions for 21 yards.

Now 3-0, the Chiefs will be on the road again next weekend to face the division-rival Chargers in Los Angeles.

The Falcons (1-2) will stay home to face the division rival Saints.