The Kansas City Chiefs' bad season got immeasurably worse on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, as superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL and could miss anywhere from nine months to a calendar year.
Obviously, step No. 1 for Brett Veach and the front office this offseason is finding a viable option under center to hold down the fort until Mahomes returns. There is a balance that needs to be struck between finding a difference-maker, but not overspending with Mahomes waiting in the wings.
However, this offseason is a time for everyone in the organization to do some serious soul-searching. This Chiefs team, Mahomes or not, is clearly not good enough to compete with the sudden new wave of heavyweights in the AFC, and particularly in the AFC West. It'll take a paradigm shift in Kansas City.
ESPN writers didn't let Brett Veach off the hook for Chiefs' roster failures
Chiefs fans aren't the only ones noticing that. Of course, when your team is in the limelight for winning as much as the Chiefs have been over the last several years, national reporters and analysts tend to point out your strengths. They find ways to give you grace and make sense of puzzling decisions.
But after a season like this, and after an injury like the one Mahomes suffered, ESPN's Dan Graziano held Kansas City's feet to the fire.
"A few people suggested to me that missing the playoffs won't be such a bad thing for the Chiefs, as it will force them to rethink their roster-building strategy around Mahomes. There's a perception that the Chiefs have been kind of perpetually retooling and counting on Mahomes' greatness to cover up their flaws and bail them out when things get dicey. Now, they basically have two extra months to focus on their offseason plans, and they hope to put them to good use," Graziano wrote. "The Chiefs need to build a run game, which they didn't do this season. ... By the time Mahomes returns, the goal will be to have a roster that doesn't need as many heroics from him as it has the past few seasons"
In a way, Graziano is right. When you have a superhero at quarterback, it's hard not to count on, and even take advantage of, him putting on the cape to cover up major deficiences on your roster. But, as Chiefs fans were reminded of this past week, injuries are a part of life in the NFL.
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Graziano's specific point about the run game is astute, considering Kansas City ranks firmly in the bottom half of the league in rushing offense. Despite Mahomes making them look good, the Chiefs' crew of pass-catching options isn't exactly star-studded anymore either.
As ESPN's Jeremy Fowler pointed out in the same piece, Mahomes' injury is forcing the Chiefs to do something that they should have been doing anyway.
"The Chiefs were already forced to look in the mirror well before the Mahomes injury. If anything, his absence will remind Kansas City how much it will miss him -- and how much it needs to strengthen the roster around him," Fowler wrote. "The way Mahomes got hurt, grinding for every inch on the field, was an example of just how much he had to manage to simply manufacture first downs this season."
Fowler's point, although painful, is poetic. Mahomes feeling like he had to do it all himself is, in a way, what led to him getting injured. If there was ever a silver lining to be taken from such a devastating injury like this, it is that the Chiefs may finally have to face the music about their roster building.
Hopefully, when Mahomes makes his triumphant return, Kansas City's roster is a bit unrecognizable to him. But, unrecognizable in a good way. Like he's part of the Avengers, not just a solo act. Like he is what makes the offense even greater, but not the entire offense.