Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes wasn’t particularly enjoying the 2023 regular season before his team went on a run to its third Super Bowl title in five years.

“Obviously, the end result was awesome, but I think a lot of us still have a weird feeling in our mouth,” Mahomes said at a press conference as he arrived for training camp Tuesday (42-second mark).

“We really didn’t play football the way we wanted to play all year long. It wasn’t fun. Every single week having to try to just continue to just get better and better and the results not paying off the way you want it to. It wasn’t a lot of fun. We have a lot of the same guys back and they know how that feels.”

It’s easy to see why Mahomes felt that way.

Week 1 set the tone for an odd regular season that saw the Chiefs go an uneven 11-6, which was still good enough for a No. 3 seed and the AFC West title.

Kansas City fell 21-20 to the Detroit Lions at home in a season opener in which the team missed defensive lineman Chris Jones (contract dispute) and tight end Travis Kelce (bone bruise). Multiple dropped passes (including one leading to a pick-six) plagued the squad.

The Chiefs then ripped off six straight wins but finished the regular season with just five wins in the final 10 games. Kansas City’s offense was oddly mediocre all year, finishing just 15th in scoring. The Chiefs averaged just 19.3 points in their final 10 games.

But the defense was sensational (second in scoring) and everyone clicked in the playoffs as the Chiefs crushed the Miami Dolphins 26-7 at home before beating the favored Buffalo Bills 27-24 and Baltimore Ravens 17-10 on the road.

Mahomes and the Chiefs certainly hope that this year’s regular season is a different story en route to a fourth Lombardi Trophy since 2019. Up first is an AFC Championship Game rematch with the Ravens coming to town on September 5.