{"id":131259,"date":"2025-12-16T07:06:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T07:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=131259"},"modified":"2025-12-16T07:06:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T07:06:58","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-inside-chiefs-concern-a-new-update-on-patrick-mahomes-recovery-is-quietly-shifting-the-mood-in-kansas-city-and-the-outlook-now-appears-more-troubling-than-fans-were-led-to-beli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=131259","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 INSIDE CHIEFS CONCERN: A new update on Patrick Mahomes\u2019 recovery is quietly shifting the mood in Kansas City, and the outlook now appears more troubling than fans were led to believe. What changed behind the scenes is raising serious questions about timelines, expectations, and how this setback could ripple far beyond just one injury."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Patrick-Mahomes-Injury-Outlook.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Patrick-Mahomes-Injury-Outlook.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Patrick-Mahomes-Injury-Outlook.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Patrick-Mahomes-Injury-Outlook.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Chiefs Patrick Mahomes Update: Recovery Outlook Just Got Worse\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Kansas City Chiefs opened their season with a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, and on Sunday, their season effectively ended with another loss to the Chargers. The Chiefs, of course, still have three games remaining in the regular season, but Sunday\u2019s 16-13 defeat eliminated the team that has won three of the last six Super Bowls, and appeared in five, from playoff contention.<\/p>\n<p>But that wasn\u2019t even the worst news. A devastating knee injury suffered by future Hall of Fame quarterback Patrick Mahomes puts the team\u2019s outlook for the 2026 season in doubt as well.<\/p>\n<p>New information about Mahomes\u2019 injury revealed on Monday night points to a lengthier recovery period for the 30-year-old Mahomes than initially believed, according to a sports injury physician who founded the information service Sports Injury Central.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Mahomes Suffered Ligament Tear, Report Says<\/h2>\n<p>Initially, Mahomes was reported to have torn his left anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL. But he underwent surgery in Dallas to repair the torn ligament on Monday, and it was then reported that he also suffered a tear to his lateral collateral ligament (LCL). NFL insider Ian Rapoport of NFL Network was first to report the LCL tear, but the journalist said that the additional injury \u201cdoesn\u2019t necessarily extend his rehab longer than nine months or so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But sports injury physician Dr. David Chao appeared to disagree. Chao said on his social media account that the second injury \u201cmakes his recovery more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Jesse Morse, a Florida-based sports injury specialist, also noted that \u201cMulti-ligament ACL tears traditionally take longer (12-15 months),\u201d and added that Mahomes will not feel fully confident in his knee until 2027.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Rush to Surgery Points to More Serious Injury<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cBased on the video, there was concern for both an ACL and LCL injury,\u201d Chao said on the site. \u201cHis knee bows outward, stretching the lateral collateral ligament, and then buckles, tearing the ACL. That was always the worry, and tonight\u2019s news essentially confirms it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chao said that the \u201curgency\u201d with which Mahomes was rushed to surgery pointed to a more serious injury, the additional torn ligament. \u201cMultiligament is harder recovery,\u201d Chao said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Dallas Cowboys linebacker) Micah Parsons, with an isolated ACL tear, has not had surgery yet despite suffering his injury the same day as Mahomes, and being the same level of superstar. The reason to move quickly with LCL surgery is that it is a true repair,\u201d Chao said, quoted by Sports Injury Central.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Recovery Time Up to One Year<\/h2>\n<p>According to information provided by Bass Medical Group, an ACL tear can require anywhere from eight to 12 months for an NFL athlete to make a full recovery. While it is unclear whether the LCL tear lengthens that estimate, it complicates the recovery process, and often requires the patient to spend time wearing a brace during the rehabilitation period, according to the <em>DocsHealth<\/em> medical information site.<\/p>\n<p>Mahomes\u2019 surgery \u201cwas performed by Dr. Dan Cooper, a highly regarded orthopedist and the team physician of the Dallas Cowboys,\u201d according to a Fox Sports report.<\/p>\n<p>Chao described Cooper as \u201ca surgeon widely known for LCL repairs. The specialist previously repaired Jaylon Smith\u2019s LCL after his Notre Dame injury and recently operated on Colorado star Travis Hunter, further indicating that Mahomes\u2019 injury extended beyond the ACL.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Chiefs<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New information on the knee injury suffered by Chief QB Patrick Mahomes changes his recovery outlook, a leading expert says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":131266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8 INSIDE CHIEFS CONCERN: A new update on Patrick Mahomes\u2019 recovery is quietly shifting the mood in Kansas City, and the outlook now appears more troubling than fans were led to believe. What changed behind the scenes is raising serious questions about timelines, expectations, and how this setback could ripple far beyond just one injury. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=131259\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8 INSIDE CHIEFS CONCERN: A new update on Patrick Mahomes\u2019 recovery is quietly shifting the mood in Kansas City, and the outlook now appears more troubling than fans were led to believe. 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