The Kansas City Chiefs are going to finish the 2025 NFL season without the services of their star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes suffered a torn ACL in the final minutes of the Chiefs’ Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. He was rolled up from behind by Chargers defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand and immediately went down in pain, clutching his left leg, and had to be helped off the field and into the locker room.
The Chiefs now head into the final three weeks of the 2025 campaign with Gardner Minshew as their starting quarterback and are already eliminated from playoff contention. Meanwhile, Mahomes will focus on getting healthy and ready for the start of the 2026 NFL season.
Here’s what to know about the basics of Mahomes’ injury and how long it might be before fans get a chance to see him on the field again.
What is an ACL?
The ACL is the common abbreviation for the “anterior cruciate ligament” in the knee.
The Mayo Clinic refers to the ACL as “one of the strong bands of tissue that help connect your thigh bone (femur) to your shinbone (tibia).” Injuries to the ligament can lead to swelling, loss of stability in the knee and an inability to bear weight, depending the severity of the injury.
ACL injuries are common among football players, and in any sports that commonly “involve sudden stops or changes in direction, jumping or landing,” per the Mayo Clinic. Treatment for the injury varies, but the malady often has to be surgically repaired.
ACL recovery time
Recovery from ACL reconstruction surgery varies by athlete. However, football players typically require “up to 9 to 12 months of rehabilitation” to recover from the procedure, per Medline Plus.
If Mahomes’ recovery follows the lower-estimated end of that timeline, he may have a chance to return for Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season.
Athletes who have torn an ACL
Torn ACLs are relatively common in the NFL. In fact, Mahomes wasn’t the only prominent NFL player to suffer a torn ACL on Sunday. The Green Bay Packers also believe star edge rusher Micah Parsons tore his ACL against the Denver Broncos.
One of Mahomes’ most prominent peers, Tom Brady, also famously tore his ACL in Week 1 of the 2008 NFL season against the Chiefs. Brady played all 16 games the year following his torn ACL, leading the Patriots to a 10-6 record while completing 65.7% of his passes for 4,398 yards, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Below is a non-exhaustive list of notable NFL players who have suffered ACL injuries at some point during their careers:
- Joe Burrow
- Jamaal Charles
- Rob Gronkowski
- Adrian Peterson
- Philip Rivers
- J.J. Watt
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is an ACL? What to know about Patrick Mahomes’ injury
