The Kansas City Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention after a 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL in the final moments of the game.
The loss ends the Chiefs’ streak of seven consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances.
This season marks the first time the Chiefs have missed the playoffs since Mahomes became the starting quarterback.
So, this is how it ends.
Patrick Mahomes was knocked out of the loss that eliminated the Kansas City Chiefs in the waning moments of the game with a wicked left knee injury.
There was no cape for Superman to put on to save the Chiefs Kingdom this time.
Rats. Oh, you know he tried.
But the knee buckled and bent awkwardly. He lay on the turf in apparent anguish as the medical team administered treatment. Teammates went down to one knee. It was a somber scene at Arrowhead Stadium. Mahomes, who has demonstrated repeatedly that he is as great as it gets, is human after all. The Chiefs needed him to spark a last-minute rally for a game-tying field goal or even a winning touchdown, but there was nothing left.
Oh, you know he was game.
Mahomes scored the only Chiefs touchdown during the 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, and for much of the game was his team’s leading rusher. This was part of the problem. Too often, they’ve relied on him to do too much. He won’t win the NFL’s MVP award this season, but he deserves it nonetheless, because without him – and with all due respect to the oft-proficient, Steve Spagnuolo-coordinated defense that allowed just 16 points on Sunday – his team was toast.
He provided heart, soul, energy, hope and logic that with the Chiefs’ season on the line – and the remarkable streak of seven consecutive trips to the AFC championship game in the mix – there was still a chance to make a miracle run.
Until there wasn’t.
Minutes after the game, the ominous tone from Chiefs coach Andy Reid strongly hinted that the star quarterback was done for the year.
“It doesn’t look good,” Reid said during his postgame news conference.
The Chiefs followed on Sunday night with official confirmation that Mahomes suffered a torn ACL. A statement from the team added, “Patrick and the club are exploring surgical options.”
No Mahomes, no chance on Sunday. Now, what’s next?
First things first: Hail to the Chiefs. This is the first time that Kansas City (6-8) won’t be in AFC playoffs since Mahomes became the starter, and it’s the first time the Chiefs have lost at least eight games in a season since 2012, when they were 2-14 in the season before Andy Reid became coach.
With Mahomes, the Chiefs won three Super Bowls and played in two others. In a parity-laden league leveled out by a salary cap, the Chiefs managed to keep winning, keep competing for crowns, to establish their own dynasty in the aftermath of the New England Patriots run powered by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
Now this.
Mahomes gamely limped off the field and to the bench under his own power after suffering his injury. And intentional or not, it was some kind of statement about the determination and pride that any of us who have watched him over the years realize runs so deep through his blood.
Minutes later, though, CBS’ cameras captured his journey to the locker room. Mahomes couldn’t get there on his own. He was helped up the tunnel with medical staffers holding him up on both sides like human crutches.
Sadly, this moment symbolized how this chapter – if not era – ends for the proud franchise that is now so battered.
Sure, Mahomes is the face of the Chiefs. But that was a dose of unintended insult added to injury. The Chiefs didn’t just lose. They lost their main man in the process.
With Mahomes knocked out of the contest, the Chiefs turned to Gardner Minshew, the backup quarterback without so much as a cape.
Minshew came in and promptly moved the chains with a short completion to Travis Kelce. Good idea. Good execution. Then the Chiefs were flagged for delay of game, with the poor execution of just getting the snap off reflected by the lack of urgency that you’d never see from Mahomes in this situation.
The next play, Minshew threw a lazy pass toward Kelce into double – or was it, triple? – coverage that was intercepted by Derwin James.
In other words, no Mahomes, no chance.
A weird January is coming in 2026. The last time the Chiefs weren’t in the AFC Championship Game? Try 2017. Way back on pre-pandemic Earth.
Maybe it is indeed the end of an era for the Chiefs, whose streak of nine consecutive AFC West titles was snapped. It’s certainly more than a mere speed bump.
Suddenly, this season, a team that knew how to win in crunch time – the Chiefs were 12-0 in one-score games last season and set an NFL record by winning 17 consecutive one-score games – couldn’t win the close ones.
On Sunday, the Chiefs fell to 1-7 this season in one-score games.
What next? There are glaring gaps with the running game and the pass rush, and who knows how much longer Kelce will play after mulling retirement last offseason. Yet with Mahomes being Mahomes – and it is apparent that rehab will dominate his offseason – they can still build around the quintessential centerpiece.
Yet nothing is automatic. As spectacular as Mahomes has been over the years, it was never automatic that he’d lead another Super Bowl run, even though it might have seemed that way. That was always packing a superhero cape. Now it’s not automatic that the Chiefs will quickly bounce back as a contender.
For a change, the Chiefs will have a long offseason to deal with their issues.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell