Tom Brady details challenges on road to recovery as Patrick Mahomes aims to bounce back from ACL injury

The Kansas City Chiefs' decade-long tally of playoff appearances came to an abrupt extremity Sunday. The Chiefs came up abbreviated astatine Arrowhead Stadium successful a captious matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers.

The 16-13 nonaccomplishment dropped Kansas City's grounds to 6–8 and mathematically eliminated past season's AFC champions from playoff contention. To marque matters worse, prima backmost Patrick Mahomes sustained a season-ending ACL wounded erstwhile helium scrambled to effort and prime up immoderate yards successful the game’s last minutes.

Mahomes underwent a process successful Dallas to repair the harm to his near ACL, the Chiefs confirmed Monday. According to a study by NFL Network, a doc besides needed to repair a torn LCL successful Mahomes' knee. The Chiefs aboriginal said Mahomes would "begin his rehab process immediately."

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New England Patriots backmost Tom Brady (12) and Kansas City Chiefs backmost Patrick Mahomes (15) aft a crippled astatine Gillette Stadium Dec. 8, 2019 successful Foxborough, Mass. (Paul Rutherford/USA Today Sports)

During the Week 16 variation of NFL fable Tom Brady's "Let's Go!" podcast, the seven-time Super Bowl champion reflected connected the grueling rehab process helium went done aft his ninth play ended owed to a akin injury.

"It's a pugnacious rehab. It's 1 of the toughest rehabs. I conscionable retrieve each time pushing myself," Brady said. "And it's ever the aforesaid magnitude of symptom and discomfort, but you're making advancement done that symptom and discomfort, which is simply a hard intelligence happening to battle. You consciousness like, 'God, each day, it doesn't consciousness right.' Except you're gaining scope of motion, and you're gaining strength. And you are connected the roadworthy to recovery. So, I privation him the precise best."

Tom Brady, left, and Patrick Mahomes instrumentality portion successful a backmost roundtable anterior to Capital One's The Match VI — Brady & Rodgers vs. Allen & Mahomes astatine Wynn Golf Club June 1, 2022, successful Las Vegas. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images for The Match)

Brady past offered immoderate proposal astir wherever Mahomes should spot his absorption during the process.

"The lone happening you tin bash is absorption connected what's up of you and not look back," helium said. "And conscionable say, ‘OK, this is portion of what my vocation is going to be. And a batch of radical person gone done it and a batch of radical person flooded it.’ You've conscionable got to enactment arsenic overmuch diligence into the rehab process. And I ever consciousness similar the faster you rehab, the faster you tin get backmost to practicing the athletics that you cognize you love.

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"I deliberation sometimes radical volition gait themselves. Instead of grooming mode, they're successful rehab mode. I deliberation you gotta get done rehab mode arsenic accelerated arsenic possible, and past you get backmost to grooming mode. But that requires an all-out commitment, and it's the aforesaid committedness that the large nonrecreational athletes marque to beryllium large astatine their profession. When you spell done the rehab process, you request that aforesaid level of absorption and determination."

After appearing successful conscionable 1 crippled successful 2008 owed to injury, Brady recovered and played successful each regular-season crippled successful 2009 and was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

In a connection posted to societal media aft sustaining the injury, Mahomes thanked fans and said helium would enactment his "Trust successful God."

Kansas City Chiefs backmost Patrick Mahomes grabs his genu aft being injured during the 2nd against the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, successful Kansas City, Mo. (Reed Hoffmann/AP Photo)

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"Don't cognize wherefore this had to happen," Mahomes wrote. "And not going to lie, it's hurts. But each we tin bash present is Trust successful God and onslaught each azygous time implicit and implicit again. Thank you Chiefs kingdom for ever supporting maine and for everyone who has reached retired and sent prayers. I volition beryllium backmost stronger than ever."

Gardner Minshew volition measurement successful for Mahomes opening with the Chiefs' Week 16 matchup with the Tennessee Titans.

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