The Kansas City Chiefs may not be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but for all practical purposes, their season likely came to an end on Sunday night with their 20-10 loss to the Houston Texans. It was another brutally frustrating loss where the Chiefs did just enough to get fans’ hopes up, but then made so many mistakes that they heartbreakingly crushed those hopes.
While fans should absolutely appreciate the epic run that the Chiefs had been on, it's also fair to be frustrated that they wasted a prime season of Patrick Mahomes’ career. Mahomes hasn't been without fault this season, but ultimately, he has played well enough to earn a spot in the playoffs, yet the team around him let him down.
The list of people who let Patrick Mahomes down this season has to start with Brett Veach. The Chiefs felt like they had a roster in place to start the season that would return the offense to its once-prolific ways again. Not only did Veach's initial plan not work, but he failed to make a meaningful move at the deadline to fix the situation. Much like with the offensive coaching staff that we'll discuss in a moment, the “we’ll just keep doing the same thing and eventually it will work” approach failed Patrick Mahomes.
The next two names on the list have to be Andy Reid and Matt Nagy. The offensive plan is stale. Reid is still one of the all-time great offensive minds that the NFL has seen, but he has lacked innovation this season and simply hasn't been able to make the adjustments needed when things aren't working. Like with Veach, too often the plan seems to be “just keep doing the same things” and hope Mahomes does something magical to save them. That's not good enough.
Having a generational quarterback is a golden ticket to the NFL playoffs, but the Chiefs wasted a prime season of Patrick Mahomes' career.
Part of the reason that Brett Veach and Andy Reid's plans failed is that the top three weapons that they provided and game-planned around just didn't deliver when it mattered. Travis Kelce had two consecutive brutal drops on what could have been a game-tying drive late in the loss to the Texans. He's still a solid weapon, but he could no longer deliver the game-changing/saving performance that K.C. needed.
Then there's Xavier Worthy. Brett Veach used a first-round pick on Worthy to give Mahomes the elite-upside receiver that he desperately needed. While Worthy hasn't been bad, he's yet to prove he's more than a speedy, small-framed role player. He can still be a nice part of K.C.'s supporting cast going forward, but this season, they needed a difference-maker to help Mahomes out, and Worthy hasn't been able to provide that.
Then there's the guy who is supposedly Mahomes’ number one receiver, Rashee Rice. Just last week I pointed out that Rice needed to prove he could step up in big moments if he wanted to be a true elite wideout after a key drop in the loss to the Cowboys. Then he turned around and, in K.C.’s last real chance to get back in the playoffs, he had just four receptions for 34 yards and dropped a pass that hit him right in the hands (just like in the Dallas game), only this time it was on fourth down with the season on the line. Mahomes needed his best playmaker in that moment, and Rice let him down.
That's not even close to the end of the list of issues in the Texans game alone. Noah Gray had two terrible drops that contributed to this loss. Andy Reid had an egregious fourth-down decision in the fourth quarter of a tied game. His defense had been playing great, and then when they didn't convert, they were forcing things from behind the rest of the way. With a decimated offensive line facing an elite pass rush, it would have been nice to rely on the run game more, but Brett Veach didn't give this team a true starting-caliber running back this season.
While the defense played better in the Texans game overall, they still had times this season when they were part of the problem as well. They've had a terrible time getting off the field on third downs all season, and that happened at a couple of bad times in this game as well. The pass rush was better versus Houston, but it has struggled all season. Covering out of the slot has been difficult all season, but Steve Spagnuolo has refused to use Trent McDuffie there and allow Nohl Williams to play more.
Patrick Mahomes is the ultimate team player, and he will likely be the first one to take responsibility and blame on himself. He has made mistakes and missed throws at times this year (he had one bad interception versus the Texans), but the failures of the 2025 season are not on Mahomes. They are on Brett Veach, Andy Reid, and the Chiefs’ supporting cast, especially his supposed top weapons.
It is a huge disappointment that K.C. has wasted a prime year of Patrick Mahomes’ career. The bigger crime will be if they don't learn from these mistakes and make some drastic changes for 2026. The “we'll just keep doing things the same” approach isn't working. Period. They let Mahomes down this season, and now they must start formulating a plan to make sure that it doesn't happen again next season.