Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II was willing to admit that “you always want to have some blowouts” as a football team after a narrow Week 12 win over the Carolina Panthers.

Having said that, there is one silver lining to winning close games, and Mahomes reminded reporters and fans of it during his postgame press conference.

“You want to have it be a little calmer in the fourth quarter,” he acknowledged, “but I’ve always said [narrow victories] can be a good thing as you get to the playoffs and later in the regular season. Just knowing that you’ve been in those moments before and knowing how to kind of attack it play-by-play — not making it too big of a moment.”

With all that in mind, Mahomes did jokingly conclude that he would still “love to win a game not by the very last play” — despite the glass-half-full mentality he just explained.

Now, just because Mahomes offered a silver lining after the 30-27 victory in Carolina, that doesn’t mean he didn’t show accountability for his part in the near second half collapse.

“We gotta be better in the whole entire fourth quarter, not just in those big moments at the end of the game,” the Chiefs signal-caller said.

Later, he noted that he thought the offense did a “great job moving the football” throughout Week 12 but could still execute at a “higher efficiency” level in the red zone.

Mahomes also credited the Panthers defense for their part in Kansas City’s two fourth quarter punts.

“They’ve played hard the entire year, they have a great defensive coordinator, a lot of great players that I’ve went up against in other places,” he said. “So, I thought we did a good job of executing the offense [and] moving the ball, but like I said, in that second half [and] especially that fourth quarter, we’ve got to be better.”

Mahomes added that the team must also do a better job of putting games like these “away” in the future.