For the first time in Patrick Mahomes' professional career, the Kansas City Chiefs won't be making the playoffs. It's an unfamiliar feeling for Chiefs fans, as this team was a playoff team even before Mahomes came to town and now the organization will have a lot to think about in the offseason.
Throwing a massive wrench into any potential plans is that Mahomes went down with what was later diagnosed as a torn ACL, which could bleed into next season as well. Where will the Chiefs go from here?
While speaking about the Chiefs on his show on Monday morning, Dan Patrick floated a word that Chiefs fans will be terrified to hear. That word is "rebuild" and Patrick thinks that could be on the table for Kansas City after the Chiefs were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
"There are a couple of teams you start thinking about, like Kansas City. Now you've got some real decisions to make here," Patrick said on his show on Monday morning. "Mahomes and that injury - When is he going to be healthy? They still haven't shored up the offensive line. I know they had injuries, everybody has injuries. The wide receivers maybe aren't who we thought they were. Travis Kelce, I would say this is it... Andy Reid, is he gonna continue to coach? Is he in for a rebuild? And it feels like rebuildish. I don't think this is reloadish. It's rebuildish."
Chiefs fans know the rebuild talk doesn’t apply with Mahomes around
Let's break down some of Patrick's comments a little more here. He said that the Chiefs didn't shore up the o-line but they actually did. Josh Simmons was playing really well when he was on the field and for the first time in several years, it looked like Mahomes had a real offensive line in front of him. Injuries took their toll there, however, and that led to Mahomes having to run even more than he'd like to.
Patrick is right about the wide receivers though. Rashee Rice has his moments but the dropped passes are a concern, Xavier Worthy has regressed in Year 2, and Hollywood Brown will certainly not be retained in the offseason. It's looking like Kansas City will have to dive back into the wide receiver well once again this spring.
He's also probably right about Travis Kelce, who has seemed miserable this year (and who could blame him?). It was a bit surprising when Kelce opted to return for a 13th NFL season and not retire but now, here we are. This is likely how his Hall of Fame career is going to end.
The Andy Reid stuff seems a bit premature given how the rest of his time in Kansas City has gone. He's won three Super Bowls in Kansas City and has made it pretty clear in the past that he's not eyeing retirement anytime soon. But, it's certainly going to be something that people talk about considering how poorly this season has gone and that Mahomes might miss part of next season as well.
When it comes to rebuilding though, the Chiefs previously were thought to be in rebuild mode in 2022 when they sent Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins for a king's ransom in return. The end result was them returning to the Super Bowl the very next season and winning it all. Oh and then they won another Super Bowl the next year as well.
The fact of the matter here -- and non-Chiefs fans will hate this -- is that as long as Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, this team will not be rebuilding. There might be some lean years but this team isn't going to take a step back while it has one of the best quarterbacks of all-time at its disposal.
Maybe the Chiefs don't make the Super Bowl every year or go on a 10-year title drought like the Patriots did but this team is nowhere close to finished as long as Mahomes is playing.