For the first time since becoming the Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback in 2018, Patrick Mahomes will not have a chance to lead his team to the Super Bowl, as the Chiefs will miss the AFC playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons.
The Chiefs were eliminated from NFL postseason contention with their 16-13 home loss to the AFC West rival Chargers in Week 15, which dropped them to 6-8 on the season. Kansas City's run of consecutive division titles ended at 10 in Week 14. Now it cannot earn even a No. 7 or final wild-card berth.
With the Chargers (10-4), Bills (10-4), Jaguars (10-4) and Texans (9-5) all winning, the Chiefs' Super Bowl-losing hangover ended in the worst way, with Mahomes also going down with a knee injury on their last-gasp drive on Sunday. The best the Chiefs can finish now is 9-8, which won't be good enough for the playoffs as they also lose the head-to-head tiebreaker to all four teams, too.
What went wrong for the Chiefs after the Eagles did a number on them in February in a 40-22 rout in Super Bowl 59? Here's breaking down the six biggest reasons for the total breakdown:
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Patrick Mahomes wasn't right all season (again)
Mahomes has had some rough inefficient play going on three seasons. He went into the Chargers' game already playing a minor knee injury. His play just didn't live up to his elite past as a three-time Super Bowl winning QB.
Mahomes had a career-low 63.1 completion percentage as a starter going into Week 15. He rated only a career-low 91.2. His yards per attempt were only at 7.2 after struggling at 7.0 and 6.8 the previous two seasons.
This might have been inevitable for Mahomes to lead a non-playoff year. There just needed to be enough issues with the rest of the team and the one-posession magic to be lost. That's exactly what's happened in 2025.
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The offensive line is an injury-riddled mess
Creed Humphrey was a rock at center all season long. But the tackle situation between newcomer Jaylon Moore, rookie Josh Simmons (now hurt) and oft-penalized Jawaan Taylor was one of the league's worst. Left guard Kingsley Suamataia is average at best. The Chiefs then saw reliable right guard Trey Smith miss recent time.
Whether run blocking or pass protecting, this group didn't help Mahomes, Kareem Hunt and more. Being bad in both areas adds up to a bad team.
MORE: Jaylon Moore is latest Chiefs offensive lineman to go down with injury
The Chiefs didn't get enough from key playmakers
Rashee Rice was a huge missing piece for the first six games. Xavier Worthy didn't evolve into the top second-year deep threat as envisioned. Travis Kelce slowed down plenty. In the running game, the high power effort of Hunt often helped, but Isiah Pacheco and Brashard Smith needed to be big factors with their fresh young legs.
Tyquan Thornton, Hollywood Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster had to be too often involved with Mahomes looking someone other than Rice to deliver from game to game The quantity of weapons should have added up to more big-time quality to rival some of the league's most loaded passing games. Instead it was an inconsistent mixed bag of same carryover issues only with more targets letting down.
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The pass rush disappeared even with Chris Jones
The Chiefs were near the bottom of the league in sacks (25) going into Week 15 and were boosted with four vs. Justin Herbert only because the Chargers' offensive line is battling more shambles' than the Chiefs' front.
Inside with Jones at tackle and outside with end George Karlaftis and others, the Chiefs couldn't rush the passer well with four, a key tenet in Steve Spagnuolo's pressure defense. The Chiefs still had a good secondary, but needing to send extra rushers and letting QBs have more time led to uncharacteristic coverage woes.
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The Chiefs never got going vs. A brutal schedule
The AFC West gauntlet with the Broncos and Chargers is bad enough. But the AFC South became tougher with the Jaguars and Texans battling. Those teams alone have gone 5-0 against the Chiefs season.
The other three losses have come to the Eagles, Bills and Cowboys. They somehow beat the Lions, Ravens and Colts (in overtime) to make things from actually being worse one-loss wise.
Coach Andy Reid made some game management and situational mistakes that led to the Chiefs going 1-7 in one possession games through Week 15. There was little room for error against that competition.
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The Chiefs lost their edge on special teams
Here's the kicker: Harrison Butker wasn't automatic. Matt Araiza has been a shaky punter. In a year of literal dynamic returns, the Chiefs didn't have a weapon there at all (paging Dante Hall) to help the offense and defense with Nikko Remiggio. Reid and Spagnuolo had their share of not being able to mesh personnel with scheme but Dave Toub wasn't immune, either.
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