At 6-8, following another loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Kansas City Chiefs has officially fallen out of postseason contention for the first time since 2014.
It is also the first time Patrick Mahomes‘ season will end without a playoff appearance, a sentence that felt impossible to write not long ago.
The timing made it worse. Late in the Week 15 loss, Mahomes suffered ACL and MCL injuries, effectively closing the door on any realistic hopes of a late push.
Even if the Chiefs had found a way into January, few believed they would have survived long with their quarterback compromised. Still, missing the playoffs entirely forces a different kind of reckoning. One that does not stop with Mahomes.
That is where Cam Newton comes in. On a recent episode of his 4th and 1 podcast, Newton suggested this moment could ripple beyond the standings and into the futures of the people who helped define the era. Specifically, Travis Kelce.
“I see Travis Kelce taking his retirement into consideration,” Newton said. “I would not rule out the possibility where Travis Kelce pulls a Rob Gronkowski and says, ‘Hey, I’m not playing for no other quarterback unless my quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is healthy.'”
The comparison was intentional. Rob Gronkowski walked away from the game, stayed gone, then returned only when Tom Brady called. Newton‘s point was not that Kelce is done, but that Kelce‘s timeline may now be tied entirely to Mahomes‘ health rather than the calendar.
Why this moment feels different for Kansas City
Newton went further, and this is where the conversation stopped being hypothetical. In his view, this version of the Chiefs is not built to simply wait things out.
“That team now needs to look to pivoting to a different direction,” Newton said, arguing that Kansas City should consider short-term solutions rather than pretending everything will reset automatically. He even floated the idea of bringing in a quarterback capable of keeping the team afloat during the early part of the 2026 season while Mahomes recovers.
That is not a conversation the Chiefs have had to entertain in years. Mahomes‘ presence eliminated those questions. His seven straight AFC Championship appearances created a sense of permanence that almost no franchise ever gets to enjoy.
Kelce has not offered clarity, only honesty. Speaking recently, he acknowledged how unusual this stretch feels.
“All the conversations that I have with the team and everything moving forward will be with them,” Kelce said. “It’s a unique time in my life, and unfortunately, I got three games left, and I know when the season ends. Typically, we go into it, and we don’t know when it’s gonna end.”
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