The Dictatorship
Patrick Mahomes tears his ACL, and one of the NFL’s most dazzling dynasties gets put on ice
ByKeith Reed
When future sports historians wax poetic about the Kansas City Chiefs’ dynasty and the remarkable championship era of the NFL team’s star quarterback Patrick Mahomesthere’s a great chance they’ll recall Dec. 14, 2025, as the end date for both. Even though we have every reason to believe the three-time Super Bowl MVP and two-time NFL MVP will be back, it’s harder to imagine him returning to a Chiefs team that will look the same as it does now: on the field or on the sideline.
In the fourth quarter in a losing effort against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, the 30-year-old Mahomes, one of the most electrifying athletes of his NFL generation, tore the anterior cruciate ligamentor ACL, in his left knee, the team announced.
ACL tears, which damage the ligament that stabilizes the knee, are catastrophic for any athlete, but especially devastating for an NFL signal caller known for creating huge, sometimes jaw-dropping, moments that start with him using his legs to extend plays.
Mahomes, one of the most electrifying athletes of his NFL generation, tore the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in his left knee.
And that’s what Mahomes was doing before he was hurt Sunday: extending a play. With the Chiefs trailing by three in the fourth quarter and their playoff hopes dangling, Mahomes eluded a defensive pass rush and threw the ball away just before he was hit.
His knee buckled awkwardly. He writhed on the turf, clutching his injured leg. But because he walked off the field, he gave Chiefs fans a glimmer of hope that the injury wasn’t as bad as it looked. A postgame MRI scan revealed no such luck. Mahomes’ season is over and with it went the Chiefs’ chance to tie a record set by the New England Patriots and make the playoffs for an eleventh consecutive year.
The Chiefs, who appeared in five of the past six Super Bowls and won three of them, might not be back for a long time. Rehab from an ACL tear generally takes about a year, so with Mahomes going down in mid-December, next season is likely out of the question. It could be September 2027 before we see him in another NFL regular-season game.
The Chiefs have $450 million invested in Mahomes via a contract that doesn’t expire until 2032, so there’s every reason to believe he’ll get the best possible care and an extensive rehab to return to form, but it’s certainly worth wondering whether he’ll have the same mobility or whether his throwing motion could be altered by the lower-body injury.
It’s also worth wondering about what the Chiefs’ roster will look like when he’s back. His most reliable weapon, 36-year-old tight end Travis Kelcehas said he plans to decide about retirement after this season. With three Super Bowl rings, more than $111 million in career football earnings, a popular podcast with his brother Jason and an impending marriage to Taylor SwiftKelce has every reason to walk away.
Several other crucial Chiefs players could also leave in free agency.
Chiefs Coach Andy Reid, considered an offensive genius, who has three Super Bowl rings as a head coach and another as an assistant coach, is the only head coach that Mahomes has had since he was drafted in 2017. But at 67, Reid is the NFL’s second-oldest head coach. Will he fancy trudging through a season without the quarterback-receiver duo at the center of his offense, only to have to rebuild around Mahomes the season after next? Or will Reid call it a career?
The Chiefs’ front office won’t allow that much organizational change in Mahomes’ absence and without his consultation. But free agency, the NFL’s hard salary cap and Father Time will limit how much they can control and how much stability they might be able to provide their star when he’s game ready again.
For Chiefs fans, that should be disconcerting. Mahomes wouldn’t be the first NFL quarterback to have suffered a devastating leg injury and come back to make a run at a Super Bowl. His old rival, Brady, returned to win multiple Super Bowls after tearing both his ACL and his medial collateral ligament, or MCL, in 2008, at age 31. It’s entirely possible.
But few things are guaranteed in the NFL, which is why Chiefs fans and fans of football in general should savor the memories of Mahomes over his epic nine-season run. Those memories include having the most wins by a QB in his first 100 starts, becoming the quickest quarterback to pass 30,000 yards and for breaking the record for the number of touchdowns in a quarterback’s first eight seasons. Add those to a run of three Super Bowl wins in six years.
We may never see anything like that again.
Keith Reed
Keith Reed is an award-winning journalist and a past senior editor at ESPN. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Root, Vibe, Essence and elsewhere.