KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL in the closing minutes of Sunday’s 16-13 loss to the Chargers, the team said.
Mahomes underwent an MRI after the game that confirmed the injury. He and the Chiefs are now exploring surgical options, according to the team.
“Don’t know why this had to happen,” Mahomes wrote on social media. “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.”
Mahomes suffered his injury with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
In an effort to rally the Chiefs, he scrambled out of the pocket, rolling to his right while he was chased down by defensive end Da’Shawn Hand. Once Mahomes planted his left foot, and threw the ball away for an incompletion, his left knee buckled. After he fell to the turf, Mahomes immediately grabbed his left knee and winced in pain.
Some members of the Chiefs feared a serious injury to their leader after the game.
“I just hugged him, man,” pass rusher Chris Jones said. “That’s my brother. We’ve been through so much. We love Pat.”
On the next snap after Mahomes exited, backup quarterback Gardner Minshew threw an ill-advised intermediate pass intended for tight end Travis Kelce that was intercepted by Chargers safety Derwin James Jr., ending the Chiefs’ comeback chances and their hopes at reaching the postseason for an 11th straight season.
They were officially eliminated with the loss.
“I felt very comfortable to go in and execute the offense,” Minshew said. “I hate that situation. I hate that I couldn’t deliver and get us a win and keep our [playoff] hopes alive.”
The Chiefs entered Sunday with just a 12% of clinching a postseason berth, according to ESPN Analytics. Even before the Chiefs’ game ended, those odds had dwindled after the Buffalo Bills, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Houston Texans — three teams that already had defeated the Chiefs this season and were ahead of them in the standings — each won their games.
The Chiefs’ 10-year streak of making the playoffs was the longest by any team across the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, according to Elias Sports Bureau. It was the second-longest streak in NFL history.
“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.”
The Chiefs entered the season hoping to be just the second team in the Super Bowl era to return to the game’s biggest stage for a fourth consecutive season. Instead, they were unable to reach the postseason largely because they couldn’t accomplish what it did a year ago: win one-score games. Last year, the Chiefs won 11 such games, the most in a single campaign in league history. But for many reasons this season — a lack of execution, the defense not getting off the field late and kicker Harrison Butker missing a career-high eight field goals — the Chiefs suffered seven one-score losses, including Sunday’s.
“We’re just not finishing,” cornerback Jaylen Watson said. “It’s a play or two — or three. We’re just not finishing. It’s frustrating.”
Prior to this year, Mahomes, a nine-year veteran, never had lost three consecutive games in the same season as the Chiefs’ starting quarterback. That streak ended Sunday.
Mahomes performed his best on the Chiefs’ opening drive. He made two clutch plays to give the Chiefs the lead. He converted a third-and-11 snap with a timely completion to Kelce, and he outwitted the Chargers’ zone coverage in the red zone with a 12-yard touchdown scramble.
But after that drive, the Chargers made everything else difficult for Mahomes, whether through pressure against the Chiefs’ makeshift offensive line — one that featured undrafted rookie left tackle Esa Pole (making his second career start) and right tackle Chukwuebuka Godrick (making his NFL debut) — or in man-to-man coverage to where the receivers couldn’t get open consistently.
The Chargers never blitzed Mahomes on any of his 35 dropbacks, the first time in his regular-season career that he wasn’t blitzed at least once, according to Next Gen Stats.
The Chargers still pressured Mahomes 17 times, a 49% clip that was the highest pressure percentage he faced in a game this season. Mahomes completed just four of his 10 attempts for 53 yards with an interception when pressured.
The biggest mistake Mahomes committed was in the fourth quarter, when he threw an interception inside the red zone on a third-and-12 snap when an incompletion would’ve allowed Butker to attempt a game-tying field goal.
Mahomes also didn’t complete any of his four pass attempts inside the red zone, his most such attempts without a completion in a game in his career.
“We’ve got to do better when you get opportunities in the red zone or [with favorable] field position,” coach Andy Reid said. “You’ve got to take advantage of that.”
With Mahomes out, Minshew now is expected to be the team’s starter for the final three games of the regular season.
“It’s been hard to watch for Pat,” Minshew said. “That dude put so much into it. I don’t think I’ve ever respected anybody I’ve played with more. I’ve never seen someone I’ve played with give so much of themselves to the team. To not get the results is hard, but I’ve got more confidence in him than anybody to come back and be better than ever.
“He’s down, man, obviously. It’s a tough game and it’s been a tough year to this point.”
