Jamaal Charles Injury: Why Torn ACL Would Devastate Kansas City Chiefs

There are worse things than losing 48-3.

There is losing 48-3 and losing your best running back to a season-ending injury.

That’s the season the Kansas City Chiefs are looking at with Jamaal Charles coming out of Sunday's game with a wrecked knee.

And for fantasy owners of Charles, they are left to go scrambling for backup. Early reports said Charles suffered a torn ACL, although the early diagnosis will be followed up on Monday by an MRI which is expected to confirm the diagnosis.

Thomas Jones took over for the Chiefs with Charles hurt, but for fantasy mavens, the play of seldom-used Dexter McCluster showed more promise. Jones got 12 carries and only totaled 40 yards. McCluster finished with eight carries and got 51 yards, good for 6.4 yards per carry.

The runaway nature of the score meant that the Chiefs had to put the ball in the air and all but ignore the running game, so the stats don’t tell the story of what these two can do, but it would come as no surprise if the Chiefs were going to look for help from outside the organization in the coming days.

The injury occurred when Charles was attempting to stretch his body out, reaching for a first down on the sideline. His cleat appeared to get caught in the turn and his knee seemed to give out.

He remained down on the field until trainers were able to cart him off the field.

It’s the second major blow to the Kansas City offense in recent weeks. Tight end Tony Moeaki went out with an ACL injury in the last game of the preseason, and that’s put a serious crimp in quarterback Matt Cassel’s passing game.