Patrick Mahomes finally broke his silence this week, interacting with the media for the first time since he tore his knee in December last year. In his nearly a decade-long career, his torn ACL and LCL in his left knee was the first real major physical setback Mahomes ever faced.
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Naturally, the injury’s implications were seen on the pitch as well; not only did the Chiefs go on to lose to the Chargers after Patrick’s injury, but their season derailed thereafter, eliminating the Chiefs from playoff contention for the first time in over a decade.
Yet listening to Patrick Mahomes describe the moment to the media yesterday was truly surreal because he seemed very calm and stoic talking about it. “Obviously, I knew something had happened,” Mahomes began, recalling the instant his knee buckled.
But even then, his instinct was to push forward. Once he managed to get up and move, hope crept in: “But once I was able to walk a little bit, I thought I might have a chance to kind of get back into the game.”
That mindset carried him straight into the medical tent. However, as the doctors began diagnosing his knee, reality slowly began to close in for the QB. Mahomes explained how his uncertainty grew as doctors ran tests and debated next steps.
“You go into the tent, they do the tests, and they want to take you back to the locker room,” he said. “You don’t know for sure and everything like that.”
Despite the setback and seething in pain, Mahomes, being Mahomes, bit his teeth and asked the doctors if he could go back in and finish the game. “When I was able to move, I asked one of the doctors if I could get a brace and just finish the game,” he revealed. “But they wouldn’t let me,” the Chiefs QB added.
But once the adrenaline dropped off, Patrick Mahomes admitted that the weight of his injury began sinking in. “It kind of sunk in once the game ended,” the 3x-Super Bowl winner said. Then when the MRI results arrived, the scope of the injury became even clearer. By then however, the season was over and a long recovery lay ahead for him.
Safe to say, it was a terrible end to his shockingly poor season because even statistically, 2025 had already been a grind for Patrick Mahomes. Not only did Kansas City finish 6-8 in his 14 starts, but he also posted career lows in completion percentage (62.7%) and TD passes (22), along with 11 interceptions.
“It’s hard,” Mahomes said, acknowledging the chain of events. “But at the same time you’ve got to flip the script fast,” he added.
That flip seems to have already begun. One month removed from surgery, Mahomes told reporters that his rehab is progressing smoothly, even admitting that doctors have had to slow him down. The Chiefs QB revealed that his targeting to be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 season.
Considering Micah Parsons, who tore his ACL the same time as Mahomes, said a realistic return is Week 4, Patrick’s target seems ambitious. But as the Chiefs star has often shown us, doubting him is the worst mistake one can do.
