Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs in jeopardy as gruesome injury leaves playoff chances hanging by thread

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are in trouble, especially along the offensive line.

Left tackle Wanya Morris, stepping in for the sidelined Josh Simmons, injured his left knee after being rolled up on by center Creed Humphrey on Kansas City’s first play of their 10-20 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday.

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The Sunday Night Football crew opted not to show a replay of Morris’ injury because of its gruesome nature.

Minutes after being helped off the field, Morris was loaded onto a cart and taken to the locker room.

He was ruled out before the end of the first quarter, with undrafted rookie Esa Pole, recently promoted to the active roster, making his NFL debut in relief.

To make matters worse, cornerback Trent McDuffie exited the game in the first quarter with a knee injury and spent some time on the sideline riding a stationary bike.

He was later ruled out of the game and Nohl Williams replaced him in the lineup. McDuffie was later seen wearing a knee brace.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Andy Reid provided an update on the Chiefs injury situation.

“Alright, got a couple injuries,” Reid said. “Wanya Morris hurt his leg, lower leg. We’ll just have to see within the next day or so here how he is. And then Trent McDuffie hyperextended his knee, so we’ll have to see how it works out for him.”

Going into SNF against the Houston Texans, the Chiefs were already counting on three backup offensive linemen, including Morris, fellow tackle Jaylon Moore and guard Mike Caliendo.

Simmons, Kansas City’s usual starting left tackle, was placed on injured reserve last week and is expected to miss at least four games.

He had surgery to fix a dislocated and fractured left wrist suffered during the Thanksgiving Day loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

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Right tackle Jawaan Taylor sat out Sunday’s game with a left triceps injury, the same issue he sustained against the Cowboys.

Starting right guard Trey Smith also missed his second straight game, dealing with a sprained right ankle he suffered in the victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

In other words, the Chiefs are banged up along the offensive line and have relied on Mahomes to be Superman, something he hasn’t been able to do consistently this season.

The Chiefs are now 6-7 after the Texans loss and have been desperately looking for ways to get hot and string together a couple of wins and find a way into the postseason.

They are currently the ninth seed and have a lot of work to do if they want to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time in Mahomes’ career.

According to NextGen Stats, the Chiefs have just a 15 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Their final four games are against the Chargers, Titans, Broncos, and Raiders. Sure, they could run the table and win them all.

But would it be too late?

Would 10 wins be enough to sneak into the postseason? Unlikely, but not impossible.

However, given the way Mahomes and the Chiefs have played all year, there’s little reason to believe they are even good enough to pull that off.

In fact, if we are going by what they have done up to this point, then it’s almost a certainty they will be sitting at home next month.

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