The Kansas City Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday. Their 10-year playoff appearance streak is over. Their nine-year streak of winning the AFC West came to an end. And their streak of appearing in the AFC title game every year of Patrick Mahomes’ career and the Super Bowl in each of the previous three seasons is also over.
The Chiefs were eliminated due to their loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Buffalo Bills’ victory over the New England Patriots, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ victory over the New York Jets, and the Houston Texans’ victory over the Arizona Cardinals. They entered the day with only the slimmest of playoff hopes, but those hopes were dashed when they lost 16-13 in a tightly contested, defense-dominated game against their division rivals.
It was Kansas City’s seventh one-score loss of the season, as the Chiefs continued to struggle in close games just a year after dominating such games by going 11-0 during the 2024 regular season. The Chiefs were at one point 5-3 and seemed to be recovering from their cold start to the season, but they lost five of six games to fall out of contention entirely.
Worse yet, Mahomes limped off the field late in the game with what appeared to be a serious knee injury. After undergoing an MRI, the team officially announced later Sunday that the three-time Super Bowl champion suffered an ACL tear. In the announcement, Kansas City noted that Mahomes and the team are currently exploring surgical options.
Mahomes was down in pain for several minutes and eventually had to be helped into the locker room by the training staff. Gardner Minshew entered in his place and played the final drive for the Chiefs, only to be intercepted on his final pass attempt of the game, sealing both the defeat and the fate of the Chiefs.
Just before the official news came out regarding Mahomes’ torn ACL, he posted a message on X that seemed to indicate the severity of the injury.
“I don’t know why this had to happen,” Mahomes posted. “And I’m not going to lie, it hurts. But all we can do now is trust God and attack every day, over and over again. Thank you to the Chief Kingdom for always supporting me and to everyone who has reached out and sent prayers. I will come back stronger than ever.”
