The Kansas City Chiefs may be forced to hit something of a reset button.
Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL on Sunday, and it's not clear he'll be ready for Week 1 next season. The Chiefs have also been officially eliminated from the playoffs.
There's one thing still to be determined: Travis Kelce's future.
Will the legendary tight end retire and ride off into the sunset? Or will this season leave a bad taste in his mouth and make him want to come back?
MORE: ACL recovery timeline impacts when Patrick Mahomes, Micah Parsons will return
Those are questions only Kelce can answer, but there's at least one train of thought that suggests his retirement will actually be a good thing.
The Chiefs have been hanging on to their old offensive way of doing things with Kelce still around. Once he's gone, maybe a necessary revamp comes along.
"Tight end Travis Kelce has been on the way out for a while now, and him hanging it up would probably force them to reimagine some things about the offense," ESPN's Dan Graziano wrote on Wednesday. "The Chiefs need to build a run game, which they didn't do this season."
MORE: Bills may not win the AFC East — but they sent a clear warning to the rest of the NFL
Kelce is heading for a third consecutive season with fewer than 1,000 yards. He's had multiple costly drops. He clearly doesn't have the top-tier ability he once did.
The 36-year old tight end could still be useful if the Chiefs found a way to make him a secondary weapon rather than the main piece of the pie. Kansas City's offense needs to evolve to bounce back from a season like this one.
If Kelce is gone, it'll make that evolution more obvious.
More NFL news:
- Jaxson Dart has a 50% head injury problem
- Trevor Lawrence had a game never before done by an NFL quarterback
- A Travis Kelce retirement hint is coming
- Tua Tagovailoa's contract looks like a nightmare
- Patrick Mahomes' injury has fans asking Tom Brady ACL question
- This Mike Tomlin horrible streak is hard to believe