After battling an ankle injury throughout Saturday’s game against the Jaguars, Patrick Mahomes revealed an ultimatum given to him by the Chiefs after he was forced to miss part of Kansas City’s 27–20 divisional round win.
Mahomes, who was listed as questionable to return shortly after the injury, missed the entire second quarter before returning to finish the game following halftime. After the win, Mahomes revealed during his postgame interview with NBC Sports reporter Melissa Stark that the Chiefs staff gave him an ultimatum after his exit: either go to the locker room or not have a chance to return to the game.
“I did not want to go,” Mahomes told Stark, per Sky Sports. “They kind of gave me the ultimatum of I was not going back in the game unless I went in the locker room—it’s going to take a lot to keep me out of a football game.”
Mahomes, who appeared noticeably upset about leaving the game, also told Stark his x-rays were negative, but the team has yet to diagnose him. That said, the former MVP still attempted to silence any concerns on his condition after telling Stark, “I’ll be good to go.”
Chiefs coach Andy Reid also addressed the challenge of getting Mahomes to go to the locker room for an evaluation
“It was hard getting him out of the game, first of all. He wanted to fight,” Reid said postgame. “He came back and said he felt good enough to be protected, where he’s not gonna get hurt, that’s obviously the primary thing. And he felt like his mobility was good enough where he could do that. … It was a short leash, so if I felt he wasn’t able to handle it, he would’ve been out.”
Mahomes’s injury occurred after Jaguars pass rusher Arden Key landed on his ankle as the star quarterback attempted to evade pressure in the pocket with 2:40 remaining in the first quarter. As the team began to evaluate Mahomes, however, the 27-year-old appeared to be visibly frustrated over having to leave the game to go to the locker room, and slammed his coat down before leaving with trainers.
Mahomes later returned to the sideline with his helmet and remained as a spectator while backup Chad Henne led the way. Prior to exiting, Mahomes engineered two scoring drives to give K.C. an early 10–7, and would go on to finish the game 22-of-30 for 195 yards and two touchdowns.
With Mahomes sidelined, Henne managed to steady the Chiefs offense with a solid performance, completing five of seven pass attempts for 23 yards and a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce to increase the lead to 17–7.
