Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a season ending torn ACL in his left knee in his team’s 16-13 loss to the Chargers on Sunday the team confirmed. Mahomes underwent an MRI on Sunday night which confirmed the tear.
With the loss, and by virtue of wins elsewhere across the league, the Chiefs have officially been eliminated from postseason contention as they now sit at 6-8 on the season.
Mahomes took to social media following the loss to vent his frustration. “Don’t know why this had to happen…And not going to lie, [it] hurts. But all we can do now is [trust] in God and attack every single day over and over again. Thank you, Chiefs kingdom, for always supporting me and for everyone who has reached out and sent prayers. I [will] be back stronger than ever.”
The injury occurred with less than two minutes remaining on a scramble to extend a Chiefs comeback attempt. Da’Shawn Hand made an awkward looking tackle, which left the 30 year old signal caller in a heap on the ground.
Mahomes had to be helped back to the locker room, and could be seen favouring his left side, leading many to speculate that he’d torn his ACL prior to the announcement becoming official. With surgery planned for the week ahead, it’s expected that the former Super Bowl MVP will miss the team’s offseason program, and could be in jeopardy of missing time to start to the 2026 NFL campaign as well.
That timeline could prove to have added significance for Kansas City as the team could be undergoing some fairly drastic change in the offseason. Future hall of fame tight end Travis Kelce has been non-committal about his playing future beyond the current campaign. Beyond Kelce, 29 members of the Chiefs will see their contracts wrap up at the end of the season, making for a potentially massive overhaul to the team’s current roster. That group includes players such as Hollywood Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, and more.
There have also been some quiet rumours about 67 year old head coach Andy Reid’s future with the organization. A future hall of famer himself, Reid has toyed with the idea of his time on the sidelines coming to an end in the near future in the past. Could the Mahomes injury, and potential Kelce retirement be enough to have him hand over the reigns to someone else? Time will tell.
The one thing that is for sure is that for the first time since 2014, the Kansas City Chiefs will not be going to the playoffs. Their remarkable run of consistency officially comes to an end this season, and perhaps the “Chiefs Dynasty”, at least in this iteration, has come to a close as well.
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