For the better part of the last six weeks, Bills fans have been preparing for another AFC Championship in Kansas City. And maybe that's selling the Ravens, Steelers, and Texans a bit short, but if the last half-decade of AFC football has taught us anything, it's that there's the Chiefs, then there's the Bills, then there's everyone else. It isn't that presumptive to assume that the Bills' path to a Super Bowl berth goes through Kansas City.
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But Week 15 had a nice little twist in store for us all. The Chiefs beat the Browns – duh – but it looks like the win, at least right now, is about as pyrrhic a win as Kansas City has had all year. Chiefs quaterback Patrick Mahomes left the game midway through the 4th quarter with what looked like an ankle injury – he was visibly hobbling on the team sideline during the Chiefs' final couple drives – and the early diagnosis doesn't look great.
According to Pro Football Talk's NFL Insider Mike Florio, the team thinks that Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain. As of right now, Mahomes is considered "week-to-week."
Patrick Mahomes may miss multiple Chiefs games with a high ankle injury
Per source, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has a high-ankle sprain. He's probably week-to-week. Chiefs play Saturday against Texans, then the following Wednesday against the Steelers.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 15, 2024
On one hand, Mahomes has super human ankles that refuse to actually abide by the same laws of physics that everyone else's ankles do. He has quite literally carried entire teams, in the Super Bowl, on said bad ankles. It wouldn't be remotely surprising to anyone if he doesn't miss a beat and the Chiefs win out over the last three weeks of the season. In fact, that'll probably be what happens.
BUT.
On the other hand, high ankle sprains are no joke. The Chiefs' schedule also isn't very kind to them over the last month of the year – they'll play their next two games (vs. Texans, @ Steelers) on short rest and then have to finish the year in Denver against a sneaky-good Broncos team that'll likely be playing for their playoff lives. You don't even need to squint that hard to see them putting Mahomes on the shelf and losing two of those three.
It's not likely, but crazier things have happened. The window for homefield throughout – and the all important first-round bye – is a tiny bit more open than it was at this time last week. That's more than enough for me to set wildly unrealistic expetations once again.