Will Chiefs rookie tackle Kingsley Suamataia start after late benching vs. Bengals?

Growing pains continued for Kingsley Suamataia in his second NFL game. The Chiefs left tackle played poorly enough in Sunday’s victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that, in a rare occurrence for offensive linemen, he was replaced in the fourth quarter .

Will Suamataia open the next game — Sunday night at the Atlanta Falcons — with the starting lineup, or on the bench, presumably with Wanya Morris getting the assignment?

“I haven’t gone in that direction yet as far as (being) the starter or not the starter,” Andy Reid said Monday. “He obviously has things he needs to work on and get worked out.”

Suamataia, a second-round draft pick from BYU, struggled Sunday, surrendering two sacks to Pro Bowl defensive end Trey Hendrickson, in addition to four pressures and a hurry.

In a damaging sequence with the Chiefs trailing by two midway through the fourth quarter, Suamataia surrendered a 4-yard sack on second down. When the Chiefs looked like they had made up the ground with a 29-yard Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce strike, the play came back when Suamataia was flagged for holding, his second holding penalty of the game.

Morris, a second-year pro who started four games last season, then entered — and finished — the game. Suamataia won the starting job over Morris in the offseason as the Chiefs sought a replacement for Donovan Smith, last year’s starter for the first 12 games and the postseason.

“I felt like we needed to take a step back to take a step forward,” Reid said. “Whether he’s in or out, I still think that was the right thing to do there. And if he’s out this week, it would be the right thing to do with that.

“We haven’t lost confidence in him, and he was going against a good player. He’s got to learn from it.”

After the Chiefs’ 26-25 victory, sealed by Harrison Butker’s 51-yard field goal on the game’s final play, Suamataia said improvement is the only option.

“They gave me the challenge to be the left tackle of this team and I need to take it upon myself even harder,” Suamataia said. “None of that should’ve happened in the first place. Bad technique in those reps. Definitely stuff I can work on.”