The Kansas City Chiefs’ hopes for a postseason run were dashed after their star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, was sidelined with a torn ACL. This injury will keep him out for the remainder of the 2025 season.
In the final moments of Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Mahomes sustained a serious knee injury while attempting a late-game comeback. The Chiefs later confirmed that Mahomes tore the ACL in his left knee. The team is now considering surgical options, although details on his recovery and timeline for a potential return remain unclear.
Mahomes had been managing knee issues all season, and it appeared that his knee hyperextended during the game. He lay on the field at Arrowhead Stadium for several minutes, with teammates gathered around him in concern. He was eventually helped off the field and taken to the locker room.
With Mahomes out, backup quarterback Gardner Minshew entered the game. Minshew had not thrown a single pass all season, and his first attempt ended with a game-losing interception.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid acknowledged that the injury looked severe. With the loss to the Chargers officially eliminating the Chiefs from playoff contention — their first postseason miss since 2014 — the team has no incentive to rush Mahomes back onto the field this year, regardless of the severity of his injury.
In a social media post after the game, Mahomes expressed optimism and promised to return stronger than ever.
This season has been a challenging one for Mahomes and the Chiefs. The quarterback has struggled with inconsistency, posting career lows in completion percentage (63.1%) and passer rating. With three games remaining, Mahomes had already thrown fewer touchdowns (22) than in any of his previous seasons as a starter.
Mahomes, in the sixth year of his 10-year, $450 million contract, had previously been named NFL MVP in 2022 and had been a top-10 MVP finalist in each of the past two seasons. Under his leadership, the Chiefs reached the AFC Championship in every year of his starting career, appearing in five Super Bowls and winning three titles.
However, Sunday’s defeat marked the Chiefs’ third consecutive loss and officially ended their playoff streak at seven seasons. Minshew will now take over as the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season, but the future for Mahomes and the Chiefs remains uncertain. Assuming Mahomes undergoes surgery, the team faces questions about who will start in his place next season if he is still recovering.
While this marks a challenging period in Mahomes’ career, his path to recovery is expected to be a long one. But, with a career still ahead of him, it seems only a matter of time before he bounces back from this setback. The Chiefs’ dominant run over the past decade has come to a halt, but Mahomes’ potential return could signal a new chapter for both him and the franchise.
