KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Within Arrowhead Stadium, a particular zone allowing Kansas City Chiefs supporters maximum proximity to their athletes is a narrow corridor situated between the field access tunnel and the squad’s changing facility. In recent seasons, this pathway has served as a setting for joyous events and triumphs.
During two of the last three Januaries, this passage hosted spontaneous festivities for the Chiefs. Athletes exchanged high-fives with supporters. Their faces lit up upon hearing collective shouts of encouragement. Head Coach Andy Reid acknowledged the enthusiastic spectators with a wave. Befitting the NFL’s newest dynastic team, these processions featured the Chiefs proudly displaying the Lamar Hunt Trophy, an award commemorating the founder of the organization and presented annually to the victor of the AFC.
The upcoming month will not see a similar occurrence at Arrowhead.
The franchise’s most prosperous period concluded on Sunday following a 16-13 defeat against the Los Angeles Chargers, which ousted the Chiefs from playoff contention. This loss brought to a halt numerous impressive records: a sequence of 10 straight seasons with at least 10 victories (the third-longest such run in NFL annals), a decade-long run of qualifying for the playoffs (the second-longest in league history), and seven consecutive appearances in conference championship games (also the second-longest in league history).
During Sunday’s game’s closing minute, signal-caller Patrick Mahomes, considered the greatest athlete in the franchise’s history—a recipient of two MVP awards and three Super Bowl MVP titles—made his way into the passage, his head lowered and draped with a towel. Mahomes required assistance from two personnel members to depart the playing surface, traverse the corridor, and access the changing rooms, having suffered the most severe injury of his nine years in the sport: a season-ending rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the latter part of the fourth quarter.
“We love you!” a single supporter, specifically a young male child, yelled towards Mahomes.
“Pat, we love you,” expressed a female bystander.
“We love you!” chanted multiple onlookers concurrently.
Five plays following Mahomes’ departure, substitute quarterback Gardner Minshew delivered a mid-range throw targeting tight end Travis Kelce, which Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. intercepted. This play extinguished the Chiefs’ prospects of a rally and their aspiration to qualify for the playoffs for an eleventh straight campaign, a feat that would have matched the longest such sequence in NFL annals.
Even prior to Mahomes sustaining his injury, an ailment necessitating surgical intervention before the conclusion of the season, the Chiefs—over a significant portion of the last three weeks—were compelled to ponder the reasons behind their considerable underperformance this season, particularly given their established benchmark of distinction.
“We find ourselves in unfamiliar circumstances, a situation we haven’t encountered during my tenure here,” Mahomes stated the previous week. “I consistently mention having much more to achieve in my professional journey, but we’ve established something remarkable in Kansas City. I genuinely appreciate that.”
Throughout different periods this season, the Chiefs’ collection of prospective Hall of Fame inductees—Reid, Mahomes, Kelce, defensive end Chris Jones, and placekicker Harrison Butker—individually had to confront and reconcile with the reality that their contributions, contrary to earlier years, were insufficient to secure a greater number of wins for the squad.
The most significant errors by Mahomes typically happened when the Chiefs were near the scoring area. Last summer, Kelce committed anew to his regimen, practicing to regain some of the swiftness, nimbleness, and rapid movements he perceived as diminished over the preceding two campaigns. While the evident enhancement in his physical prowess proved beneficial, he also committed uncharacteristic dropped passes that played a crucial role in certain defeats. Several tactical choices by Reid as head coach were perplexing. Butker’s consistency—he failed on a personal record eight field goal attempts—was not maintained, and Jones experienced a regrettable incident during a nationally televised contest.
For an extended duration, even after it became apparent that his athletes exhibited a fluctuating level of performance from match to match, Reid endeavored to offer a calming presence within the Chiefs’ changing area and during press briefings.
“Our team is incredibly near a breakthrough,” Reid stated a fortnight prior. “We simply need to handle our responsibilities. Regardless of my words spoken here, it’s about your actions. That is your current position, and you must perform and rectify the problem, as our progress is marginal.”
Conversely, the difficulties confronting the Chiefs persistently accumulated as the season advanced.
Before the current year, Mahomes, as the Chiefs’ primary quarterback, had never experienced three successive defeats within a single season. This unbroken run concluded on Sunday. Following each loss—against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, the Houston Texans during a featured evening game, and the Chargers on Sunday—the mood within the Chiefs’ locker room transitioned from apprehension to despondency, and ultimately to profound sadness.
During Thanksgiving in Dallas, Josh Simmons, the rookie left tackle selected in the team’s initial round, departed the changing area with his left wrist in a cast and arm supported by a sling. Subsequent diagnostic outcomes revealed that Simmons suffered a dislocated and fractured left wrist, an injury that concluded his season. After suffering a loss to the Texans, Mahomes remained seated before his personal locker, a towel draped over his lowered head, his eyes moist before he proceeded to shower. Opposite Mahomes, Kelce, his preferred colleague, was among the final athletes to remove his attire. He stayed seated by his locker for several minutes, his hands resting upon his bowed head.
Subsequent to Sunday’s match, a number of players made considerable efforts to extend well wishes, backing, and positive reinforcement to Mahomes, who was absent from the changing area upon the media’s admittance.
Jones, whose primary focus remained on Mahomes’ ailment, remained unaware of the Chiefs’ playoff exclusion until journalists conveyed the news during his post-game press engagement.
“Understood,” articulated Jones, his head inclining for a brief period. “Achievement must be earned annually. Occasionally, circumstances diverge from one’s intended course.”
THE SEASON’S DEBUT also deviated from the Chiefs’ projections.
At the start of September, the Chiefs commenced their campaign in São Paulo for a singular, nationally televised contest facing the Chargers. Forty-eight hours prior to the event, the Chiefs’ landing at the city’s aviation hub evoked the spectacle of music legends on an international concert series. Countless enthusiasts hailing from Brazil and across South America—many of whom had never witnessed a live NFL match—converged hours in advance of the Chiefs’ procession through the concourse, positioning themselves to welcome and make contact with various individuals from their cherished squad. The immense gathering applauded, captured moving images, and vocally repeated the surnames of Mahomes and Kelce.
Following three successive appearances in the Super Bowl, the Chiefs, under the guidance of Reid and general manager Brett Veach, opted against significant modifications to their player roster, relying on the expectation that stability would again prove influential in determining game outcomes.
In the latter stages of the fourth quarter facing the Chargers, the Chiefs found themselves in a customary predicament. Despite being behind by six points, their defensive unit was on the verge of recovering possession for Mahomes, whose career is distinguished by orchestrating decisive, final-minute drives. However, Jones, the team’s premier defensive player, committed an error during the Chargers’ third-and-14 play just before the two-minute mark: he failed to maintain outside containment while rushing from the defensive end position, enabling quarterback Justin Herbert to bypass the Chiefs’ man-to-man coverage by scrambling for a 19-yard advance.
Right after the ball was hiked, linebacker Drue Tranquill loudly addressed Jones, resulting in a disagreement between the two.
“Perform your duties, individual!” Tranquill vociferated at Jones. “Perform your duties!”
This scenario contrasted sharply with the Chiefs’ experience a year prior, during which they consistently appeared to execute the decisive play—or exploit an adversary’s error in the concluding moments—to achieve an organization-best 15-2 ledger. In the previous year, the Chiefs triumphed in 11 contests decided by a single score, the highest tally for any team in a solitary season within league history. Nevertheless, that particular evening in São Paulo marked the inception of a pattern where tightly contested matches increasingly favored other teams against the Chiefs.
A primary factor contributing to the Chiefs’ failure to advance to the postseason this year stems predominantly from their inability to secure victories in games decided by a narrow margin. Their performance of 1-7 in such contests this season, encompassing Sunday’s result, places them at the bottom of the league standings.
“Defeat is unpleasant; it’s an unfamiliar sensation,” expressed cornerback Jaylen Watson. “We are simply failing to complete plays. It’s a matter of one, two, or even three critical moments. Our execution is lacking at the end. This is disheartening.”
During Week 2, in a defeat against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs found themselves merely six yards from establishing a 17-13 advantage early in the fourth quarter. Mahomes was guiding the Chiefs on a systematic possession, aiming to exert pressure on the NFL’s defending titleholders. However, the 14th play of that drive culminated catastrophically. Kelce—Mahomes’ most dependable receiver—fumbled an instantaneous throw, the ball rebounding from his grasp directly into the possession of rookie safety Andrew Mukuba, who then carried the intercepted pass for 41 yards.
The Eagles leveraged the singular turnover of the contest. Quarterback Jalen Hurts successfully connected with wideout DeVonta Smith on a 28-yard throw, circumventing the Chiefs’ Cover 0 defensive scheme. This crucial play facilitated Hurts’ subsequent 1-yard touchdown, executed through the “tush push” maneuver.
Several weeks thereafter, Jones experienced his most regrettable incident of the campaign. With half a minute remaining and the Jacksonville Jaguars positioned at the 1-yard line, facing a four-point deficit, quarterback Trevor Lawrence briefly lost his footing beneath the center exchange but recovered swiftly to dash over the goal line for the decisive point. Jones, who anchored the Chiefs’ defensive front by participating in 48 plays, observed the entire progression from midfield without making a significant attempt to chase and bring down Lawrence.
“My mistake was assuming the action was concluded,” Jones remarked some days following the match. “This serves as an instructive experience. I believed it was finished. I presumed he was tackled, so I momentarily paused, preparing to rejoice. Subsequently, I recognized he was still upright.”
Across the entire season, the Chiefs’ shared vitality, attention, and determination occasionally diminished, typically during crucial junctures. In their defeats, the Chiefs frequently incurred more infractions than their adversaries, mishandled the football (26 total, ranking second highest in the league), or committed an unprompted mental misstep. An official from an AFC franchise posited that these problems represented the accumulated consequence of the exertion the Chiefs had invested over the preceding seven-year span. Even within the most recent four seasons, the Chiefs participated in 81 contests, a greater number than any other team in the league.
“They’ve simply appeared fatigued,” commented the executive.
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Derwin James Jr. ends Chiefs’ playoff hopes with an INT
Gardner Minshew is picked off by Derwin James Jr. to seal the Chargers’ win over the Chiefs.
A SIGNIFICANTLY DISAPPOINTING facet of the season was the Chiefs’ offensive unit’s failure to actualize its capacity to evolve into one of the league’s formidable groups—an aspiration held by numerous individuals within the organization.
Wideout Rashee Rice commenced the year undergoing a six-game suspension due to his involvement in a multi-vehicle collision in 2024 that resulted in several casualties. Subsequently, a mere three plays into the campaign, the Chiefs were compelled to proceed without Xavier Worthy, their swiftest pass-catcher. Worthy sustained a right shoulder trauma while executing a crossing pattern to create distance against the Chargers’ individual coverage. He impacted Kelce, who was simultaneously running a crossing route in the converse direction. The initial two weeks furthermore included a tense touchline altercation between Kelce and Reid. During this exchange in a victory against the New York Giants, Reid made physical contact with Kelce using his left shoulder.
Notwithstanding the offense’s intermittent difficulties, the Chiefs divided their initial six matchups without Rice. Upon Rice’s comeback, the offense experienced its most productive period in October, positioning the Chiefs as the unequivocal Super Bowl frontrunners, as per ESPN Analytics, despite Simmons being in the middle of a 22-day leave from the squad, missing four contests for what the team characterized as a “personal matter.”
By early November, Mahomes at last had his top five receiving targets—Kelce, Rice, Worthy, alongside wideouts Hollywood Brown and Tyquan Thornton—all in sound physical condition and ready for deployment versus the Buffalo Bills.
“It seems to me that attention is now more dispersed among other individuals,” Worthy stated in late October. “Each player within this offensive unit possesses the capability to execute plays. There is no self-centeredness. Every person is prepared to undertake the less glamorous tasks, and each is committed to performing optimally for the collective benefit of the squad.”
The Bills, however, represented the initial adversary to reveal a vulnerability within the Chiefs’ offensive strategy: their tactic involved deploying an increased number of defensive backs while simultaneously applying pressure on Mahomes without resorting to a blitz.
“In situations where opponents utilize man-to-man defensive schemes, and our objective is to free up receivers further downfield, they were effective in collapsing the pocket,” Mahomes commented post-game. “I must improve my ability to operate within the pocket, identifying alternative pathways to step forward. My consistency in this regard needs to be greater.”
Multiple adversaries—including the Denver Broncos, the Texans, and the Chargers—employed an analogous approach to restrict the Chiefs from achieving a 20-point total. Even as linebackers retreated into pass coverage during the Chiefs’ run-pass option executions, Mahomes often continued to opt for throwing the football, which rendered Reid’s offensive system more foreseeable than in prior campaigns. Mahomes registered 81 pass attempts this season with a release time under 1.5 seconds (the closest rivaling quarterbacks, Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers, each had 49). Furthermore, Mahomes tops the league in both attempts (244) and successful throws (184) when releasing the ball in less than 2.5 seconds, based on Next Gen Stats data.
Additionally, the Chiefs were unable to execute effective ground plays from the shotgun formation, irrespective of whether the play incorporated a run-pass option. Despite running back Kareem Hunt’s exceptional performance in situations requiring minimal yardage, the Chiefs have historically struggled to generate substantial gains on rushing attempts. Prior to Sunday’s match, the Chiefs recorded the lowest frequency of explosive rushes—defined as running plays gaining 20 yards or more—from running back carries across all seasons since 2000 (at 2.6%). Against the Chargers, the collective efforts of Hunt, Isiah Pacheco, and rookie Brashard Smith yielded a mere 34 rushing yards from 19 carries.
Possibly the most stark contrast for the Chiefs lay in Reid’s fourth-down choices and his strategic play selections. Earlier in the current month, the Chiefs held the league’s top position for fourth-down conversion efficiency, successfully converting 80.8% of their 26 tries. However, in their encounter with the Cowboys, Reid opted to kick the ball away in the third quarter despite the Chiefs facing a fourth-and-4 situation at the opposing team’s 44-yard line. This tactic proved ineffective, as the Cowboys subsequently utilized their possession to augment their advantage.
During the defeat to the Eagles, the Chiefs’ initial drive of the third quarter concluded with a confounding play selection. Facing fourth-and-1 with the score level, Reid’s design called for center Creed Humphrey to execute a pulling block for Hunt on a trap play. The Eagles’ defensive front overwhelmed the Chiefs’ offensive line, and the play concluded with a loss of one yard. The Eagles capitalized on the favorable field position to establish a three-point lead courtesy of placekicker Jake Elliott’s 51-yard field goal.
Earlier in the present month, during the fourth quarter of a crucial contest against the Texans, Reid executed a strategic choice unprecedented in his 27-year professional journey—a decision that ultimately became the pivotal moment in the team’s subsequent loss. With ten minutes left and the score deadlocked at 10, Reid chose to maintain the Chiefs’ offensive unit on the field, facing a fourth-and-1 scenario from their own 31-yard line. Rather than deploying Hunt—who has established himself as one of the NFL’s most dependable ball carriers in short-yardage situations—Reid positioned Mahomes in the shotgun formation, with wide receiver Hollywood Brown in the backfield. The strategy failed. Mahomes’ throw targeting Rice over the middle of the field was unsuccessful. This incident represented the inaugural occasion in Reid’s career where he pursued a fourth-down conversion with the score tied in either the fourth quarter or overtime, and his offensive unit positioned within its own 40-yard line. Moments later, the Texans scored, moving ahead 17-10.
“I bear complete accountability for that,” Reid remarked post-game. “My belief was that we could achieve it. Seizing advantageous moments is paramount. Reflecting now, it was an incorrect judgment. I made an error there.”
Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy encountered multiple instances where they grappled with solutions when Mahomes was confronted by man-to-man defense. Mahomes endeavored to excel by improvising, extending plays through scrambling in the hope of generating an impressive moment when his pass-catchers struggled to find space. However, during the current season, Mahomes achieved only a 41% completion rate on passes thrown while under pressure, marking the lowest such percentage throughout his career.
During Sunday’s contest, the Chargers refrained from blitzing Mahomes on any of his 35 pass plays, a first in his regular-season tenure where he avoided being blitzed even once, as per Next Gen Stats. Despite this, the Chargers still applied pressure on Mahomes 17 times, a 49% rate that represented the highest pressure frequency he encountered in any game this season. Mahomes managed to complete only four of his 10 throws while under duress, accumulating 53 yards along with one interception.
A different prevalent issue for the Chiefs this season involves their costly turnovers within the red zone. Last month, Mahomes delivered a pivotal interception during the defeat to the Broncos. In the game versus the Jaguars, Mahomes tossed an intercepted pass—which, rather than finding receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster for a touchdown, was carried back 99 yards for a score by linebacker Devin Lloyd.
“Their defensive scheme simply caught me off guard,” Mahomes remarked on the evening of Lloyd’s interception. “They had previously utilized zero coverage near the 10-yard line in past matchups, and they hadn’t displayed linebackers emerging from coverage. I identified the pre-snap Cover 0 configuration and adjusted to a play incorporating inside-breaking routes, but full credit goes to them.
“He appeared precisely where I intended to throw the pass. It was an excellent strategic decision by their team and a superb execution by [Lloyd]. My responsibility is to discover a method to bring him down or impede his progress after he secures the interception.”
Mahomes’ most significant misjudgment in Sunday’s contest occurred in the fourth quarter, when he hurled an intercepted pass within the red zone during a third-and-12 play. An incomplete pass on that down would have afforded Butker an opportunity to try a field goal to equalize the score. This turnover marked the fourth occasion this season that Mahomes had been intercepted in the red zone, representing a personal career high.
“Our performance must improve when presented with chances in the red zone or advantageous field territory,” Reid commented on Sunday. “Such opportunities must be capitalized upon.”
NOTWITHSTANDING THE CHIEFS’ season concluding in a mere three weeks, they are poised to commence the forthcoming off-season facing the most unfavorable conditions witnessed since Mahomes became part of the squad in 2017 and Veach assumed the role of general manager a few months thereafter.
Even prior to Mahomes sustaining his injury, the Chiefs are cognizant of the necessity to tackle multiple facets of their squad—specifically, their underwhelming pass rush, the subpar output from their running backs, and potentially needing to identify a primary tight end should Kelce choose retirement. The Chiefs’ list of urgent concerns, however, will now also encompass the quarterback position. The organization lacks any other signal-caller under contract beyond the 2026 season.
Mahomes is slated to be absent from the team’s off-season training regimen, and his readiness for the commencement of the subsequent season remains uncertain.
“That individual invested an immense amount,” Minshew commented regarding Mahomes. “I doubt I have ever held greater esteem for any teammate. I have never observed a colleague dedicate such a significant portion of themselves to the collective. Failing to achieve the desired outcomes is difficult, yet my faith in his ability to return and surpass his previous performance is absolute.”
“He is disheartened, clearly. This is a challenging sport, and the year thus far has proven arduous.”
Over the preceding half-decade, Reid has placed importance on securing an experienced player as Mahomes’ understudy. The club might seek to acquire such an individual through free agency to manage the Chiefs’ offensive operations, at a minimum, throughout the off-season regimen, training camp, exhibition games, and potentially extending into the initial phase of the regular season.
Among the most ambiguous elements concerning the Chiefs’ off-season is the trajectory of Kelce’s career. As a player with 13 years of experience, Kelce is presently in the concluding year of his contractual agreement. He revealed the previous month his intention to determine his continuation with the Chiefs by early March, prior to the commencement of NFL free agency.
“One invests such considerable effort and anticipates positive returns,” stated Kelce, aged 36, on Wednesday during the “New Heights” podcast he co-presents with his sibling Jason Kelce. “And at this moment, for some damn inexplicable cause, it’s the minor details. I sense that in prior years, I invariably possessed the solutions. This year, however, I am simply unable to discover them.
“My continuous thought is that if I arrive for duty, apply myself diligently, rectify the problems through my training routines, and by refining our tactical approach and my foundational skills based on what I am instructed, then proceed to exert myself fully alongside my teammates, everything will align as it has in previous seasons. Yet, this year, it is simply not happening, mate.”
Should Kelce opt for retirement, a National Football League talent evaluator proposed that the Chiefs ought to endeavor to acquire a conventional, perimeter wide receiver, an athlete comparable to George Pickens—whose contract concludes this season, making him an upcoming free agent—to assist in overcoming man-to-man defensive schemes.
The Chiefs’ administrative division will furthermore need to prioritize enhancing the squad’s pass rush capabilities. Far too frequently this season, the only defensive lineman consistently capable of creating pressure was Jones, who, at 31 years of age, ranks as the team’s second-most senior lineman. An executive from an AFC team stated that the Chiefs’ failure to achieve steady pressure and sacks with a four-man line—the entire defensive line accumulated only 16.5 sacks—has represented the defense’s most significant vulnerability.
On three separate occasions this campaign, Mahomes was relegated to the sidelines late in the final quarter, observing the opposing offensive unit exhaust the game clock while maintaining a one-score advantage.
During a separate defeat, facing the Broncos, the defensive unit proved unable to halt the opposing offense on a third-and-15 play just prior to the two-minute warning, as quarterback Bo Nix successfully connected with wide receiver Courtland Sutton for a 20-yard advance. The Broncos concluded the match with a decisive 35-yard field goal from placekicker Wil Lutz as the clock reached zero.
Among the concluding athletes to depart the Chiefs’ changing facilities on Sunday was Jones.
“I believe we gained considerable knowledge this year,” he expressed. “We might feel anger towards ourselves, and we could query the divine. However, occasionally, it represents a lesson imparted during one’s progression. It would be self-centered to question the divine’s reasons. Why at this juncture? Why this particular adversity?
“Our greater imperative is to comprehend it and construct upon this experience.”
Senior NFL correspondent for ESPN, Jeremy Fowler, provided input for this dispatch.
