As it stands for the rest of 2025, Patrick Mahomes is out, and Gardner Minshew is in.
The veteran backup is set to start the Chiefs’ last three games at quarterback after Mahomes suffered a torn ACL during the Week 15 loss to the Chargers.
Minshew noted that it’s been an emotional week given Mahomes’ injury and the reality that’s set in that the club will miss the postseason for the first time in a decade.
“But you know what, you are where you’re at and we have to turn this thing around and go get a win this week,” Minshew said in his Wednesday press conference. “So, that’s where we are.”
While Minshew has bounced around since the Jaguars selected him in the sixth round of the 2019 draft, he’s started at least two games per year since entering the league. That is now set to continue with Kansas City through the last three weeks of the season.
“It’s an opportunity to step in and do my job,” Minshew said. “Being how there’s a lot of guys that have put a ton of work into this. I owe it to them; I owe it to this coaching staff, this team, this fan base to go out and do my best to give us the best chance to win.”
Last season with Las Vegas, Minshew appeared in 10 games with nine starts, completing 66.3 percent of his passes for 2,013 yards with nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Minshew will face the Titans, Broncos, and Raiders to finish out 2025 for the Chiefs.
Chiefs Clips
While there was no question the move was coming, it has still now been made official.
The Chiefs announced on Wednesday that quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been placed on injured reserve, formally ending his season after he underwent reconstructive knee surgery earlier this week.
Mahomes finishes his 2025 season having completed 62.7 percent of his passes for 3,587 yards with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
This will be the first time since Mahomes became a starter in 2018 that Kansas City will not appear in the AFC Championship Game, as the club was eliminated from postseason contention with last week’s loss to the Chargers.
Gardner Minshew is in line to start Kansas City’s last three games.
To take Mahomes’ spot, the Chiefs have signed defensive tackle Zacch Pickens to the 53-man roster off the club’s practice squad. Receiver Jimmy Holiday has been signed to the practice squad.
Additionally, the Chiefs have designated tight end Jake Briningstool and cornerback Nazeeh Johnson to return to practice, opening their 21-day windows.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes went to Texas to have his knee surgery on Monday, but he’s due back in Kansas City at the end of the week.
The team’s vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder told reporters on Wednesday that Mahomes had surgery to repair his torn ACL a day after suffering the injury because he also injured the LCL and “we wanted to reattach the evulsion injury there.” Burkholder said that doctors are confident that both injuries have been fully repaired.
“He had no artery damage, no nerve damage, no joint surface damage, no meniscal damage,” Burkholder said, via McKenzie Nelson of KSHB. “He’s already started rehab down in Dallas, he was there first thing Tuesday morning and he’ll do that through tomorrow and then he’ll be back here Friday.”
Burkholder said that the “ballpark” recovery timeline for Mahomes is nine months, but added that it could move a month or two in either direction as the rehab process unfolds. There are sure to be plenty of updates on how that is unfolding and whether a Week 1 return is realistic come the new year.
Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice remained in last Sunday’s loss to the Chargers after being checked out in the sideline medical tent in the wake of a big hit from Chargers safety Tony Jefferson, but his status for this week’s game against the Titans is in question.
Head coach Andy Reid said at a Wednesday press conference that Rice is in the concussion protocol. Reid said that Rice reported concussion symptoms to the team’s medical staff on Monday.
Tyquan Thornton is also in the protocol after being on the receiving end of a helmet-to-helmet hit that led to Jefferson being ejected from last Sunday’s game.
Linebacker Leo Chenal (shoulder), cornerback Trent McDuffie (knee), tackle Jaylon Moore (knee), and right tackle Jawaan Taylor (triceps) will also miss practice on Wednesday.
The Chiefs find themselves in unfamiliar waters heading into Week 16.
Last week’s results, including their loss to the Chargers, left them without any hope of making the playoffs for the 11th straight season and quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ torn ACL means they are going to be without their biggest star for at least the rest of this season. That double whammy has sparked a lot of talk about the end of a dynastic run for the franchise, but tight end Travis Kelce said on his New Heights podcast that the team isn’t inclined to punt on the rest of the season.
“Things, when you need them the most, just weren’t falling for us, and you’ve got to go back to the drawing board, and we got three games left,” Kelce said, via Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star. “I know we’re still talking about this game, but the integrity of who you are as a professional, as a player, you got to love this. And Chiefs Kingdom, we’re going to give you everything we got. There’s no question about that. There’s only one way I do things. There’s only one way coach [Andy] Reid does things. And if we’re going to go out there and play some football, we’re going to do it the right way, and keep trying to get these things fixed and end on the highest note that we can.”
Kelce may also be trying to end his career on the highest possible note. He said earlier this year that he will make a decision about whether he will retire or play a 14th NFL season. If retirement is the choice, it will be another sign that a memorable era has come to an end in Kansas City.
How much better is Patrick Mahomes than Gardner Minshew? About eight points better.
That’s how much the point spread shifted on Sunday’s Chiefs-Titans game after Mahomes suffered a torn ACL, leaving the Chiefs with Minshew as their starting quarterback for the rest of the season.
Prior to Mahomes’ injury, the lookahead line on the Chiefs-Titans game was Chiefs by 11.5. After the injury, the Chiefs are favored by 3.5. The eight-point swing shows just how valuable Mahomes is.
The over-under on the game is 37.5, the lowest in the NFL this week, suggesting that we’re in for a low-scoring game between two teams that are out of playoff contention.
They can’t all be winners, can they?
As the NFL continues to make Christmas a pro football holiday, the trend has potential pitfalls. Including the very real possibility that the games to be played on December 25 will have little if any meaning to either or both of the teams involved.
Recent developments have made this season’s three-pack of games something far less enticing than gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
It will get started in nine days with Cowboys at Commanders. Both teams are more cooked than overdone roast beast.
Then comes Lions-Vikings. Detroit is scrambling to avoid missing the playoffs, which gives the game a little pop. The Vikings — who have won two in a row and are 6-8 — were eliminated on Sunday, when the Bears beat the Browns.
The day ends with the Broncos at the Chiefs. With the Chiefs eliminated. And with Gardner Minshew playing quarterback for the home team. Why would folks in Kansas City want to venture out on Christmas night to watch that one?
For in-home viewers who root for other teams, there’s a certain schadenfreude factor that will prompt those who had developed Chiefs fatigue to tune in and relish what should be a long night for the franchise that had appeared in three straight Super Bowls and five of the last six. Still, it will hardly be must-see streaming for Prime Video.
One factor is the calendar. With Labor Day landing on September 1 this year, the season started as early as it ever does. Which puts Christmas in Week 17. Which makes it harder to effectively predict in May the games that will matter in late December.
For that reason, don’t be surprised if the NFL eventually builds flexibility into the Christmas games, like it does for the late-season Saturday when five games are flagged as candidates for the three standalone spots.
Few teams are eliminated and thus irrelevant by Thanksgiving. More teams are and will be out of it by the time Christmas rolls around. If the NFL wants to maximize the audience for those games, it will have to either hit the bull’s-eye in May, or it needs to have the ability to move the dart.
Patrick Mahomes underwent surgery on Monday night to repair a torn ACL in his left knee. It wasn’t the only ligament injured, after all.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Mahomes also tore the LCL in his left knee.
Rapoport adds that, while it complicates the recovery, it doesn’t necessarily extend the timeline for a return beyond nine months.
Still, it’s more than a simple and clean ACL tear. Whatever the injury, the fact that Mahomes had surgery so quickly demonstrates his mindset. He will do whatever he can to get back as soon as he can.
Barring complications, there’s no reason to think he won’t be ready for the start of the 2026 season.
To no surprise whatsoever, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will aggressively embrace the challenge of getting healthy again.
The Chiefs announced on Monday night that Mahomes “successfully underwent surgery in Dallas this evening with Dr. Dan Cooper to repair the tear in his left ACL.”
Added the Chiefs: “Mahomes will begin his rehab process immediately.”
Indeed he will. And he’ll do everything in his power to get himself ready to go, as quickly as possible. Starting with surgery barely 24 hours after the injury happened.
It’s consistent with the advice Tom Brady gave to Mahomes on the Let’s Go! podcast. Attack the rehab process so that he can return to training mode as soon as possible.
In the first game of 2008, Tom Brady’s ninth NFL season and eighth as a starter, he suffered a torn ACL. On Sunday, Patrick Mahomes had the same injury in his ninth NFL season and eighth as a starter.
Appearing on SiriusXM’s Let’s Go! podcast, Brady had some advice for Mahomes.
“The only thing you can do is focus on what’s ahead of you and not look back,” Brady told host Jim Gray. “And just say, ‘OK, this is part of what my career is going to be.’ And a lot of people have gone through it and a lot of people have overcome it. You’ve just got to put as much diligence into the rehab process. And I always feel like the faster you rehab, the faster you can get back to practicing the sport that you know you love. I think sometimes people will pace themselves. Instead of training mode, they’re in rehab mode. I think you gotta get through rehab mode as fast as possible and then you get back to training mode. But that requires an all-out commitment and it’s the same commitment that the great professional athletes make to be great at their profession. When you go through the rehab process, you need that same level of focus and determination.”
Brady nevertheless said it won’t be easy.
“It’s a tough rehab,” Brady said. “It’s one of the toughest rehabs. I just remember every day pushing myself. And it’s always the same amount of pain and discomfort except you’re making progress through that pain and discomfort, which is a hard psychological thing to battle. You feel like, God, every day, it doesn’t feel right. Except you’re gaining range of motion and you’re gaining strength and you are on the road to recovery. So I wish him the very best.”
The difference between Brady and Mahomes is that Brady was a pocket passer. Mahomes relies on mobility, agility, and change of direction. More natural stress will be placed on Mahomes’s new ACL. That may require him to alter his playing style until the knee has fully recovered.
Also, Brady (whose recovery included an infection) had a full year to prepare to play again. Mahomes has fewer than nine months until the 2026 season begins.
