The rest of the Kansas City Chiefs‘ season, all things considered, is a bit of a moot point. With all-world quarterback Patrick Mahomes on the shelf following a year-ending knee injury, that’s the most important thing for the franchise.
It’s a torn ACL for Mahomes, which gives him a long road ahead. It remains to be seen what his exact recovery timeline will look like, of course, following surgery. There’s reason to believe that work in the offseason program will be impacted.
Speaking to the media on Monday afternoon, head coach Andy Reid gave his latest update on Mahomes.
Andy Reid Praises Patrick Mahomes Amid ACL Tear: ‘He’ll Attack It’
Reid believes his superstar signal-caller will emerge on the other side of this brutal injury and be just fine.
“Yeah, I think just what you said: He’ll attack it,” Reid said. “Just like he does everything else. There have been some pretty good quarterbacks that have had the same injury, and they’ve done pretty well after they came back. He’ll get after it, and he’s got good people here to rehab him. Again, he’ll be right on top of all that.”
Reid also confirmed that he’s spoken with Mahomes on several occasions since Sunday’s unfortunate development.
“I’ve had a good visit with him a couple of different times,” Reid said. “He’s in a good place. He always feels like he let people down, but then he comes back and he’s ready for the challenge ahead, which is what’s real right now. He’s just got to get through surgery, wherever it might be, and then move on from there.”
Per Reid, Mahomes will see Dr. Daniel E. Cooper, a sports medicine physician and orthopedic surgeon in Dallas, TX, later on Monday. He described it as a “second opinion.” Cooper specializes in the knee and shoulder areas.
Mahomes faces an uphill battle, but Reid isn’t worried.
“I know the process of rehabbing for sure,” Reid said. “He’ll get in there, and I know he’ll come out on the strong end of this thing.”
Reid Not Letting Chiefs Throw in Towel at End of Season
Now eliminated from playoff contention, the Chiefs find themselves in a strange spot. For the first time since 2014, they won’t qualify for the postseason. Whatever January football they play will be their final regular-season game of the 2025-26 campaign. It’s just the second time Reid will miss the big dance in his Kansas City tenure, and it’s even less familiar territory for Mahomes.
Since he became the full-time starter in 2018, he’s known nothing but deep playoff runs. Even worst-case outcomes in 2018-19 and 2021-22 ended with overtime losses in the AFC title game. Everything else was either a trip to the Super Bowl or a championship win. If there’s any silver lining with Mahomes’ injury, it’s that it happened during a lost season.
Despite that, Reid isn’t letting his players hang their heads. He expects the team to fight hard until the end of the schedule.
“Listen, every game you go into, it can be Yahtzee and you want to win,” Reid said. “I mean, we’re in America here, that’s kind of what we do. You want to go in to play your best. If the guys are available, they’re gonna play. They know that. They want to do that. You find out.”
At 6-8, the Chiefs have the Tennessee Titans (2-12), Denver Broncos (12-2) and Las Vegas Raiders (2-12) coming up. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to find some success, even without Mahomes on the field.
Can Kansas City avoid its first sub-.500 year since 2012? The next few weeks will reveal the answer.
Chiefs’ Andy Reid Reveals Next Steps for Patrick Mahomes After Torn ACL