Patrick Mahomes seemed to compartmentalize any mental obstacles he must’ve had on Sunday. In the midst of his worst individual season-opening stretch, he endured one of the worst single plays of his career, accidentally injuring the Chiefs’ top receiver Rashee Rice after the quarterback’s interception. But Mahomes still led Kansas City to 17 unanswered points in a 17-10 road win over the Chargers.
The victory obviously came with a heavy cost for Kansas City (4-0), and head coach Andy Reid knew it when he entered his halftime locker room. A Monday MRI is expected to reveal an ACL injury that will end Rice’s season.
“When we saw him on the field this year, he was amazing,” said Ari Meirov from the33rdteam.com, on Monday’s NFL Spotlight podcast. “Looked like a bona-fide Wide Receiver 1. The Chiefs plan for this year was, ‘We’re going to have Hollywood Brown, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and we’re going to have Travis Kelce and Isiah Pacheco as well. And this offense is going to be much better than the 2023 version, which still somehow won the Super Bowl. But this year, our offense is going to be amazing.’”
Amazing seems like a longshot now that injuries have likely ended the seasons of Brown and Rice and cost Pacheco 6-8 weeks. Suddenly, Kelce looks like the team’s top weapon next to Worthy. While the speedy Worthy caught three passes for 73 yards and a 54-yard touchdown on Sunday, the 5-11, 165-pound rookie has a lot to prove, according to NFL defenses.
“I’ll tell you this much,” said Meirov, “this Chiefs organization is so all-in on this year. They really want to become the first team ever to three-peat and they’re taking it seriously. A 4-0 start is great but there is no way they’re able to grow through these next 13 games plus playoffs with a rookie in Xavier Worthy, and JuJu Smith-Schuster and Justin Watson as their top receivers. So, they’re going to have to make some move eventually.”
The NFL trade deadline is Nov. 5 and acquiring Davante Adams from a team in their own division is highly doubtful. The Chiefs could look at Amari Cooper, who’s in the final year of his contract with a 1-3 Browns club. Zay Jones, currently on the suspended list with the 1-3 Cardinals, is another possibility. Michael Thomas and Hunter Renfro are free agents, Meirov noted.
Kansas City has won its first four games by a combined 20 points. The Chiefs get an extra day of rest before hosting New Orleans (2-2) on Monday Night Football in Week 5.