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2025 NFL playoffs: Reason for hope for seven bubble teams entering Week 14 | NFL.com
REASON FOR HOPE: Patrick Lavon Mahomes II.
That’s really the simplest way to explain any optimism around Kansas City these days. The Chiefs fell to 6-6 after their Thanksgiving Day loss to Dallas, and that type of defeat would be enough to clear most bandwagons around the league. After all, Kansas City is now 1-5 on the road this season and 1-6 in one-score games. But Mahomes has made a name off doing miraculous things, and it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that he wills his team to the postseason after all their struggles. The reality is the Chiefs have no other choice at this stage. Their defense has been inconsistent throughout the season, as it tends to disappear in critical moments and fails to generate consistent pressure on quarterbacks. Mahomes also doesn’t have a reliable running game and his offensive line is now beat up (left tackle Josh Simmons left the loss with a broken wrist, right tackle Jawaan Taylor didn’t finish the game because of an elbow injury and Pro Bowl guard Trey Smith didn’t even play because of an ankle injury). But guess what happened on Sunday? Mahomes did enough to pull his team within three points late in the fourth quarter — including a crazy play when he avoided a sack, stumbled and still threw a 42-yard strike to Xavier Worthy while falling to the ground — and he finished with four touchdown passes and no interceptions in that 31-28 defeat. There’s no question he’s capable of going on a heater over the last five games, all of which the Chiefs need to win just to have a chance of reaching the playoffs. The question is whether he can do that against three of the best defenses in the league (the Texans next weekend, the Chargers after that and the Broncos on Christmas Day). Most folks would laugh at the idea of an average quarterback being asked to lead his team to victory against all those contenders in a playoff push. The people who’ve seen Mahomes play in the past are probably thinking differently. He gives them a shot. He always does.
The Chiefs find themselves multiple games behind the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos and the Wild Card-occupying Los Angeles Chargers. However, the Chiefs might be better positioned to get back on the horse and actually make a run at the playoffs after the latets news surrounding Justin Herbert.
Herbert suffered a hand injury in an easy victory against the moribund Las Vegas Raiders that was so severe that head coach Jim Harbaugh immediately confirmed that Herbert was going to undergo an operation on that hand on Monday.
With the Chiefs at 6-6 and the injury-riddled Chargers at a very precarious...
