Chiefs to miss NFL play-offs for first time in 11 years

Three-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes will not play in the NFL post-season for the first time in his career as the Kansas City Chiefs have been eliminated from play-off contention.

Sunday’s 16-13 loss at home to the Los Angeles Chargers means that, despite having three regular season games remaining, the Chiefs will miss out on the play-offs for the first time in 11 years.

Kansas City’s third loss in a row – and fifth in six games – left them with a 6-8 record this season and could mark the end of an NFL dynasty.

Head coach Andy Reid has led the Chiefs to the play-offs in each of the past 10 seasons and to the Super Bowl in five of the past six.

They won the NFL’s championship game in 2020, 2023 and 2024, and were denied the first Super Bowl three-peat last February.

Mahomes, 30, became the Chiefs’ starting quarterback in 2018 and has reached at least the AFC Championship game in each of the past seven seasons, a run bettered only by the New England Patriots (2011-2018)

Kansas City led 13-3 late in the second quarter of Sunday’s game but the Chargers fought back with 13 unanswered points to beat their divisional rivals.

Mahomes, who has twice been named the season’s Most Valuable Player, was trying to put together a game-winning drive when he injured his left knee in a tackle with less than two minutes left.

He needed treatment on the field and was being helped down the tunnel when back-up quarterback Gardner Minshew threw an interception with 20 seconds left, with the Chiefs in position to potentially tie the score with a long field goal.

Coach Reid said after the game that Mahomes will undergo an MRI on either Sunday night or Monday and that his injury “doesn’t look good”.

Travis Kelce has been a regular starter since the 2014 season and is one of six players to win three Super Bowls with the Chiefs – one of five still with the team.