The Kansas City Chiefs are used to being the hunted - perennial contenders with Patrick Mahomes at the helm, a team that’s made deep playoff runs feel routine. But this season?
It’s been anything but routine. The Chiefs are officially out of the playoff picture, and while Mahomes’ late-season knee injury sealed their fate, the cracks in the foundation showed well before that.
Let’s start with the offense - or rather, what’s been missing from it. Mahomes is still Mahomes: creative, elusive, and always capable of pulling off the improbable.
But even his brilliance couldn’t overcome the issues surrounding him this year. The offensive line, which has been a strength in recent seasons, was retooled and inconsistent.
The wide receiver group led the league in drops - a brutal stat when your quarterback thrives on timing and trust. And the running game?
Virtually non-existent when the Chiefs needed it most.
One bright spot on that offensive front was rookie left tackle Josh Simmons. Before a wrist injury cut his season short after just eight games, Simmons was quietly putting together one of the best seasons by a rookie left tackle in recent memory.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, he allowed a pressure rate of just 6.6% - third-lowest among all left tackles and second-lowest by a rookie since 2018 (minimum 150 pass blocks). That’s not just promising - that’s foundational.
Simmons showed he can be Mahomes’ blindside protector for years to come. The Chiefs don’t hand out that kind of responsibility lightly, and Simmons looked ready for it.
But Simmons’ injury was just one piece of a season riddled with setbacks. Kansas City struggled in areas that used to be their calling cards: third downs and one-score games.
In 2024, they went a perfect 11-0 in one-score contests. This year?
A complete reversal of fortune. The magic - the late-game heroics, the impossible comebacks - just wasn’t there.
Injuries and suspensions didn’t help. Rookie receiver Xavier Worthy, a player many expected to be a key vertical threat, went down on the very first play of the season.
Rashee Rice, who had emerged as a reliable target last year, missed the first six games due to a suspension stemming from an off-field issue. Even with those absences, the Chiefs still had enough talent on paper to make it work.
But football games aren’t played on paper, and the execution just wasn’t there.
Defensively, the Chiefs couldn’t generate consistent pressure - a problem that showed up in glaring fashion against Tennessee. Facing Cam Ward, the second-most sacked quarterback in the league, Kansas City brought him down just twice for a total loss of 16 yards.
Ward, still early in his NFL journey, looked poised and comfortable, completing 21 of 28 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-9 Titans win. For a defense that’s prided itself on disrupting quarterbacks, that performance was a gut punch.
And then came the quarterback carousel. One week after Mahomes went down with a torn ACL and PCL, backup Gardner Minshew - who had stepped in admirably - suffered a knee injury of his own.
That forced third-stringer Chris Oladokun into action. With uncertainty swirling, the team signed Shane Buechele off the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad.
Buechele, who spent two seasons in Kansas City, could be in line to start in Week 17 against the Denver Broncos, though nothing’s been confirmed.
So where do the Chiefs go from here? This season has been a reminder that even dynasties aren’t immune to turbulence.
But with Mahomes expected to return next year, and young talent like Josh Simmons showing serious upside, the foundation is still strong. The road back to the top won’t be easy, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past decade, it’s this: don’t count out the Chiefs - especially when they’ve got something to prove.