Patrick Mahomes spoke to the media for the first time since tearing his ACL in Week 15’s loss to the Chargers in December, a devastating injury that marked a bitter end to a forgettable year for the Chiefs.
A month after his ACL injury, Mahomes told reporters that he was progressing well in his post-surgery rehab and was aiming to return to the field by Week 1 of the 2026 season.
He was also asked about his initial reactions to suffering the ACL tear, and he revealed that he didn’t know how serious it was at the time and actually wanted to go back into the game against the Chargers.
“Obviously I knew something had happened, 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,” said Mahomes. “... I asked one of the doctors if I could get a brace and just finish the game, but they wouldn’t let me. Obviously it kind of sunk once the game ended and then I was able to get the results from the MRI and stuff like that.”
Mahomes then got brutally honest when asked what went wrong for the 2025 Chiefs, who missed the playoffs for the first time during Mahomes’s career as starter:
“I think just compounding mistakes,” Mahomes said. “You make mistakes throughout a game—for myself, I look at some of the red zone interceptions I threw, and kind of bigger moments in the third and fourth quarter of games. That’s stuff that I haven’t done in the past, so speaking for myself just trying to be better in those moments. And then I think offensively we weren’t consistent enough throughout games. We had stretches of games where we played good, we had stretches in the season where we played really good, but we gotta be better. That starts with me and kind of has to feed throughout the entire offense.
“It sucks watching these [playoff] games, I want to be out there playing football.”
#Chiefs Patrick Mahomes said he and the offense weren't consistent enough this season - a key reason why they missed the playoffs:
— Matt Foster (@MattFosterTV) January 15, 2026
"We gotta be better. That starts with me & then it has to feed through out the entire offense." #ChiefsKingdom @KSHB41 pic.twitter.com/OA45DNl8RN
Mahomes wrapped up his ninth year in Kansas City with one of his career worst campaigns, throwing for 3,587 yards, 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions; nine of his picks came in the second half of the season.
After a disappointing—and painful—finish to 2025, the Chiefs star appears ready to leave this past year’s woes behind and reignite the franchise’s glittering dynasty, one that will hopefully include many more Super Bowl wins in his near future.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Patrick Mahomes Got Honest About Heartbreaking End to Chiefs’ Season.
