Kansas City (6-8 straight up, 5-9 against the spread) was eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since 2014 with Sunday’s 16-13 loss vs. the Los Angeles Chargers as six-point home favorites.
Even worse, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes sustained a torn ACL to his left knee late in the fourth quarter. He will miss the rest of the season and could miss games next year as well.
Mahomes was injured while trying to scramble out of the pocket to his right. Chargers defensive end Da’Shawn Hand was in pursuit when Mahomes threw the ball away for an incompletion. In doing so, his knee buckled when he planted his left foot.
In a post to his Twitter account, Mahomes said, “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.”
Before getting injured, the 30-year-old Mahomes completed 16-of-28 passes for 189 yards and one interception. He had 15 rushing yards and one touchdown on two attempts.
The Chiefs have now lost three consecutive games and five of their last six, going 0-6 ATS.
In 14 games this year, Mahomes connected on 315-of-502 throws (62.7%) for 3,587 yards with a 22/11 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He had 422 rushing yards and five TDs, averaging a career-best 6.6 yards per carry.
After Mahomes went down, backup QB Gardner Minshew completed 3-of-5 passes for 22 yards with an interception. The Bolts’ Derwin James intercepted Minshew to secure the victory.
“I just hugged him, man,” Kansas City DT Chris Jones said after the game. “That’s my brother. We’ve been through so much. We love Pat.”
Indeed, it’s been a dynastic run for a Chiefs’ core built around Mahomes, Jones and veteran TE Travis Kelce, who at the age of 36 seems destined for retirement while in the final season of his contract.
This is the first long-term injury of Mahomes’ career. He missed two games in 2019 when he dislocated his kneecap, but the Texas Tech product eventually led his team to its first Super Bowl win in 50 years later that season.
Starting with its win at Super Bowl LIV to close the 2019 campaign, Andy Reid’s club has been to five of the last six Super Bowls, winning three of those. Kansas City had won the AFC West nine straight times until this year.
The only season the Chiefs haven’t been to the Super Bowl since 2019 was in 2021 when they lost at home in overtime to the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game.
Kelce wasn’t feeling like addressing his future after the loss yesterday. “Sorry guys, it’s not the time,” Kelce said. “I’ll catch you guys during the week.”
The Chiefs run of 10 consecutive postseason appearances is tied for the second-longest streak in NFL history.
Kansas City also saw its run of consecutive 10-win seasons snapped at 10. That’s the third-longest streak in NFL history behind only the Patriots (17 straight from 2003-19) and 49ers (16 straight from 1983-98).
“Success is rented every year,” Jones said. “Sometimes it don’t go the way you planned for it to go. I think we learned a lot this year.
“We can be mad at ourselves, and we can ask God why. But at times, it’s a lesson that you’re being taught along the journey. We’d be selfish to ask God why. Why right now? Why this? We more so [have] to understand it and build from it.”
Minshew will start at QB for the next three games. Kansas City’s remaining contests are at Tennessee, vs. Denver and at Las Vegas.
As of Monday morning, most books had the Chiefs installed as 3.5-point road favorites at Tennessee with a total of 37.5. The Titans were in the +150 to +167 range on the money line.