Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes Says He'll 'Be Back Stronger Than Ever' After Torn ACL Injury

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes foreshadowed that his 2025 season is over after suffering a knee injury during Sunday's 16-13 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs, saying he will be "back stronger than ever."

Shortly after, the team announced that Mahomes suffered a torn ACL.

With the loss, the Chiefs dropped to 6-8 on the season and were officially ruled out of playoff contention.

Mahomes suffered the injury in the fourth quarter as the Chiefs were attempting to tie or win the game and salvage the season.

He was replaced by Gardner Minshew, who finished 3-of-5 for 22 yards but threw a game-sealing interception with 14 seconds remaining.

"Patrick hurt his left knee, we'll get an MRI tomorrow or this evening, whenever they get him in there," head coach Andy Reid told reporters to start his postgame press conference. "... It didn't look good. We'll just see where it goes."

Minshew will now step into the starting role for the remainder of the season.

There will be questions about the downfall of these Chiefs, however, after seven straight playoff appearances, five Super Bowl berths and three titles in the Mahomes era. There won't be many fingers pointing at the superstar quarterback, who has thrown for for 3,587 yards, 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season, completing 62.7 percent of his passes.

Kansas City's offense seemed more stale than years past, and it's clear more playmakers are needed. The Chiefs also were dominant in one-score games a year ago (12-0) but have been awful in those contests this year (1-7). A slight regression to the mean in tight games was expected, but not to this degree.

The margins are small in the NFL. They haven't gone Kansas City's way in 2025. And now there are major questions about 2026, with uncertainty over when exactly Mahomes will be able to return.