Chiefs eliminated from NFL playoff race, ending 10-year postseason run

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Chiefs eliminated from NFL playoff race, ending 10-year postseason run

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The Chiefs will miss the NFL playoffs for the first time since the 2014 season.
Kansas City’s fate was sealed by its loss to the Chargers as well as wins by the Bills, Texans and Jaguars on Sunday.
This will mark the first time that Patrick Mahomes, who left Sunday’s game with a knee injury, will miss the postseason.

In the last decade-plus, the Kansas City Chiefs went from AFC also-ran to the NFL’s foremost power and main attraction.

Now, a challenging season has left the franchise in unfamiliar territory.

With Sunday’s 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and the Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars all winning their respective games, the Chiefs are officially eliminated from playoff contention. Kansas City will be absent from the postseason field for the first time since 2014 – three years before Patrick Mahomes was drafted and just the second season of Andy Reid’s run as coach of the team.

Mahomes, who took five sacks and was hit throughout the day, left the game in the final two minutes after aggravating his knee injury. Gardner Minshew took over behind center, but his interception in the final seconds of the comeback bid sealed Kansas City’s fate.

The 10-season streak of reaching the playoffs was the second-longest stretch in league history – behind only the New England Patriots (2009-19) – and longest active run in the NFL, with the Bills the next closest at six years.

At 6-8, the Chiefs already have their most losses since 2012, their last losing campaign (2-14).

Mahomes, Reid and other members of the team’s core had hoped to bounce back from the Super Bowl 59 dismantling by the Philadelphia Eagles this fall by re-establishing their place atop the AFC, having claimed the conference crown in five of the last six seasons. Instead, Kansas City quickly saw its season go sideways with an 0-2 start.

The Chiefs managed to regroup and reach 5-3, but the team has now lost five of its last six contests after Sunday’s defeat against the Chargers.

Along the way, Kansas City saw an abrupt shift in its fortunes in tight contests. After their record 12-0 run in one-score games through the end of last season, the Chiefs are now 1-7 in such contests this year.

Last week’s loss to the Texans not only ended the Chiefs’ nine-year reign over the AFC West but also dealt a significant blow to the team’s playoff hopes, with previous defeats to the Jaguars and Bills leaving Kansas City in a vulnerable place for any potential tiebreaker scenarios.

Yet Reid didn’t waver even as the odds became stacked against him.

“Listen, it’s never over, so you keep battling,” Reid said after the loss to the Texans. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve seen some things, so you keep going.”