The Kansas City Chiefs (10-6) travel to Los Angeles to face the Chargers (5-11) in Week 18, but the game is meaningless. Kansas City is locked in as the No. 3 seed whether or not they win.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, January 3, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid announced that quarterback Patrick Mahomes will not play on Sunday against the Chargers. Instead, backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert will get the start. The decision doesn’t come as a huge surprise. Risking an injury to their $450 million franchise star in a zero-consequence game is a huge gamble.
As for Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Reid left the door open for him to play. “We’ll see,” he said, per SI’s Jordan Foote. Putting him in a position to possibly get hurt before the playoffs is hazardous, but Kelce is nearing a huge milestone in Week 18. If Kelce doesn’t suit up for the Week 18 matchup, it’s unknown if his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, will travel to SoFi for the anticlimactic game.
As for Mahomes, he already hit a personal milestone during the Chiefs’ 25-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals last week. The two-time Super Bowl MVP topped over 4,000 passing yards on the season for the sixth straight season. Only five other quarterbacks own longer streaks in NFL history, per Chiefs reporter Matt McMullen: “Drew Brees (12 straight from 2006-17), Matt Ryan (10 straight from 2011-20), Philip Rivers (8 straight from 2013-20), Peyton Manning (8 straight from 2006-14) and Matthew Stafford (7 straight from 2011-17).”
