Patrick Mahomes had a losing season for the first time in his Kansas City Chiefs career, after the team finished with a disappointing 6-11 record. This meant that the Chiefs missed the playoffs and also ended their illustrious nine-year streak of winning the AFC West. All in all, the Kansas City Chiefs and Mahomes had an uncharacteristic season compared to their usual high standards.
Mahomes suffered an ACL and LCL injury in the Week 15 game against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chiefs quarterback, in his vintage style, ran out of the pocket to extend a play, but as he planted his leg, his knee twisted and put an end to his 2025 NFL season. While the Chiefs looked better with Mahomes, the issues were evident for everyone to see.
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So why did the Chiefs struggle one year after making it to the Super Bowl? The reasons were several, with the biggest being their inability to protect Mahomes, which led to the Chiefs QB taking 34 sacks in 14 games, a career-high rate. Veterans like Travis Kelce and Chris Jones showed signs of fatigue, and the injuries during the season only rubbed salt in their wounds.
But the most important thing for them is that Patrick Mahomes' aggressive rehabilitation regime has paid dividends, and he looks ready to go in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season. Despite the optimism, Andy Reid has taken a cautious approach by deciding not to play him in the preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams.
It has been reported that Andy Reid might take the same approach for the other two preseason games as well. Beat reporter Nate Taylor, speaking on the "Chiefs Collective" show, said, "he just playing football. He just, he's, yeah, he's, in honesty, he's a full go. Like I, like I just, I know he's not gonna play in the preseason. There's no reason to play him in the preseason. But man, if there was, if there was a, if they played the Broncos on Sunday, he would be out there."
"Yeah, my sense, talking to multiple people is, there's just, it just doesn't, it's not worth, the juice is not worth the squeeze. I know Andy would feel like, I just wanna see it from an operation standpoint just one time. But the medical staff understands that like the longer he has to wait to get hit on that leg, the better," he added.
Andy Reid is expected to rotate his quarterbacks in the preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams, with Justin Fields, Garrett Nussmeier and Chris Oladokun sharing reps.
