Patrick Mahomes completes miraculous comeback from concussion protocol

The Kansas City Chiefs were already having a very bad day on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans when they were in the fourth quarter down 24 points in an important game against another AFC playoff contender. Somehow that wasn’t the day’s lowest point.

With just a few minutes left in the game, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes absorbed a couple hits on a single play that bent in him in ways that made everyone in Chiefs Kingdom (and likely the NFL) gasp aloud. Take a look at the play here.

Andy Reid‘s decision to leave his starters in the game late in the fourth quarter despite being down by four possessions (let’s be serious here) was a questionable one, and that’s because things like this can happen. Mahomes and the team’s offense had proven unable to move the chains hardly at all for three-plus quarters and when they could go for it to try to close the gap, Reid opted for field goals. Therefore, it seemed as if the Chiefs were ready to call it a day and take the loss—except for the fact that the starters were still playing garbage time reps.

Patrick Mahomes’ comeback from a potential head injury was amazing in Week 7.

Just like that, when Mahomes went down, the oxygen left the proverbial room. It was devastating to watch. It was easy to fear the worst and believe that an injury to the game’s most popular player was going to accompany an embarrassing afternoon of football.

So imagine our (wonderful) surprise then when Mahomes not only took questions after the game but clarified the fact that he’d already made it out of the league’s concussion protocol.

Just like that, Mahomes was back and performing his typical player duties like nothing went wrong for the leader at all. He handled all of the tough questions levied to him after such a devastating loss exactly the way he was supposed to. It seemed very clear that the Chiefs were expecting him to not only play next week against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football but that he would likely be able to practice as well. Instead of looking like a man who’d just withstood a couple of major hits, including one to the head, Mahomes was cleared to chat with the media like nothing at all was wrong.

For those of us who were hoping for a miraculous comeback on the field, it was at least good to see Mahomes make one off the field by returning so quickly from the concussion protocol—at least, assuming that he really is good and that the team isn’t taking any remote chances with him back so early.

It seems crazy if you watched the hit, but Mahomes himsels says he’s fine. We’re at least glad for that minor victory even if the day itself was a sour one for Chiefs Kingdom.