Chiefs Eliminated: Andy Reid Blames ‘Costly Mistakes,’ Gardner Minshew ‘Frustrated’ Over Patrick Mahomes’ Injury

For the first time since 2014, the Kansas City Chiefs have been eliminated from the playoffs. Thanks to the efforts of the Los Angeles Chargers, Patrick Mahomes will officially miss the first playoff series of his career, as the Chargers were able to take home a narrow 16-13 victory in Week 15.

According to the Chiefs’ head coach, Andy Reid, however, they have no one to blame but themselves.

“We made some mistakes, they cost us in the end. All in all, we came up short on both sides of the ball and special teams,” Reid proclaimed upon his arrival at the post-game podium. He then noted that both he and the fans “appreciated” the effort from the team, but it simply wasn’t enough to cover up the “costly mistakes” that occurred throughout the contest.

Unfortunately, that isn’t where the bad news ends for Chiefs Kingdom, as the knee injury of Mahomes is much more concerning in the long term. The star signal caller went down towards the closing moments of the game with an apparent knee injury, but several sources fear worse right now.

Patrick Mahomes #chiefs

Left knee hyperextendeds while slightly laterally rotated.

I’m hoping it wasn’t enough excursion for an ACL or PCL but those will be assessed for.

LCL and posterolateral corner are also concerns.

Hoping he avoided anything major pic.twitter.com/GXbZQ33h59

— Tom Christ, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT (@FantasyInjuryT) December 14, 2025

 

Meanwhile, former Jacksonville Jaguar sensation, Gardner Minshew II, took over for Mahomes, but during his post-game interview, he couldn’t help but lament the Chiefs’ loss and Mahomes’ injury. “It’s very frustrating,” Minshew exclaimed.

“It’s been hard to watch for Pat. That dude put so much into it. I don’t think I’ve ever respected somebody that I’ve played with more. I’ve never seen somebody give so much of themselves to the team… I have more confidence in him than anybody to come back and do better than ever.”

Even though there are still three games left on their schedule, the real narrative resides in the fact that the Chiefs will soon head into the offseason while being more than $43 million over the cap. Kansas City has some readily apparent holes throughout its roster, and they’ll have to find a way to retool while also navigating that cap restriction.

Suffice to say, Rome didn’t fall in a day, and neither did the Chiefs, but they now find themselves both in ruin. Moving forward, the biggest plot lines for Chiefs fans to follow are the retirement of Travis Kelce and potentially even that of Andy Reid, as both of them are well past the average age at which men in the professions retire.

Now that they’ve been eliminated from playoff contention, Mahomes figures to have plenty of time to undergo the necessary scans and treatments that he’ll need. He is set to undergo an MRI on Monday. The star signal caller will be back to full strength by this time next year, but the in between is what’s concerning, so keep your notifications on throughout the offseason, Chiefs fans.