📸: David Eulitt|Getty

It’s hard to accept what you don’t understand, and this Chiefs season has been a case study that Harvard will study one day. The 16-13 loss to the Chargers officially laid this team’s playoff hopes to rest, but that wasn’t the hardest news to swallow last night.

It also ended Patrick Mahomes’ season prematurely; three hours after game time, it was announced that he had torn his ACL. Obviously, your heart goes out to Mahomes, who always leaves his guts on the field.

The hope was that it was a hyperextension rather than the dreaded three-letter diagnoses, but reality started setting in swiftly.

Timelines for ACL injuries range from 9 to 12 months, which would put him in line to start Week 1. I know Mahomes heals on a wolverine timescale and will do everything humanly possible to be ready to play next year, but you don’t know.

The man who made Kansas City believe could be in jeapordy of missing the 2026 campaign.

Let this serve as an eulogy. It’s the perfect way to end an awful season. This season never felt right. The blowout in the Super Bowl was supposed to light a fire under the Chiefs and turn them into villains, but that fire never got started.

Before we get into what they need to do roster-wise for 2026, it’s important to reflect on the dynastic run this team just completed, because there won’t be much to redeem about the Chiefs.

Since Mahomes became a starter, the AFC Championship has been his earliest playoff exit. Think about the teams we were forced to watch before Mahomes got here. If you’ve been around as long as I have, then you know how special a QB like Mahomes is in your city.

It’s been a priveledge to write about this team and marvel at what Patrick, Travis, Chris, Spags, and Andy have accomplished in seven years.

But that era is over, and we’re about to enter a new one where Mahomes will be over 30.

Think about how fast life came for the Chiefs.

We just watched the last game between Patrick and Travis. We thought they might have one more big game in them before the season ended, and Travis and Pat could walk off the field together knowing they gave everything they had.

Instead, Kelce had to watch his dawg get carried off the field, and not on his own terms.

“Phase One” was electric. 2017-22, Mahomes took the league by storm and was unquestionably the best quarterback in the NFL. “Phase Two” was rewarding but frustrating. We won the Super Bowl again in 2023 and had a chance at a three-peat in 2024, but the way this phase has ended has been gut-wrenching to say the least. A blowout loss to the Eagles and then missing the playoffs the following season should be enough to see real change in Kansas City.

I never thought I would be entertaining tanking while Patrick Mahomes is still employed, but that’s where we are. Stay tuned, I’ll be dropping an off-season piece breaking down how the Chiefs need to move heading into the most vital off-season in the Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes era.