If you're wondering how those closest to Patrick Mahomes felt the moment the star quarterback went down with a torn ACL in the final minutes of Week 15, the answer is the same way everyone else did.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been Mahomes' most trusted on-field companion since he came into the NFL, so it's noteworthy to hear the future Hall of Fame tight end talk in depth about the team's recent loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and Mahomes' season-ending knee injury.
Following the game, Kelce didn't offer to talk to reporters who wanted to question him about the game. Perhaps that's because he tends to go into such things in great detail on his podcast, New Heights, with his brother, Jason Kelce. On the latest episode, Kelce did just that by answering questions from his brother about a disastrous week that not only knocked Mahomes out for the year but also took the team out of the postseason picture.
Travis Kelce spoke about the loss of Patrick Mahomes to a season-ending injury in great detail on his podcast.
"It’s never easy seeing your guys go down," said Kelce. "We had a bunch of guys get hurt this past game, and we fought. We fought. We had some guys fight through some stuff, [and] we had some guys not make it back out on the field. For the season to be going like it did up to that point, and we’re on our last quest to try to keep our playoff hopes alive there in the fourth quarter, and on a freakish play to see 15 [Mahomes] go down like that, it was almost like it wasn’t real."
After some further thoughts, Kelce distilled it down even more by noting how much Mahomes already puts himself completely out there for the sake of extending a drive or attempting a pass. No one can question Mahomes' efforts, and it caught up with him in the worst way.
"That s--t just sucks. For a guy who puts in that much and puts his body on the line week in and week out and makes this football world, he makes the best of it by how hard he works; it just sucks," said Kelce.
Yet Kelce also believes that the same tenacity that's made Mahomes a globally known figure and the best player in the NFL of his generation will carry him through this as well. Within 24 hours of the injury, Mahomes underwent successful surgery to repair his ACL and LCL in the hopes of getting into the recovery phase as soon as possible.
"He’s a warrior, man," said Kelce. "I’m telling you, this guy has played through everything, battled through everything, has been crowned champion because he’s battled through everything. And he’s gonna battle through this. It’s the only way this guy is wired. He’s a fearless, fearless warrior when it comes to this football thing, and he’s going to make sure he comes back stronger than ever."
A quick side note: To close out his quote on Mahomes, Kelce finished with some interesting phrasing. "Hopefully, the Chiefs can get him back as soon as possible." Perhaps the switch from first person to third person tense is nothing at all, but it's also possible to read between the lines and wonder if Kelce knows he's not going to be around next year. Then again, maybe he just said "Chiefs" instead of "we" for no reason at all. Only time will tell on that one, but if it's a bread crumb of some kind, we'll point back here and realize the tell.
Until then, Kelce's confidence in Mahomes is a bit of wind in the sails for Chiefs Kingdom after a chaotic week.