Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs are heading into Week 16 with no chance of making the playoffs, but will still play on the road against the Tennessee Titans nonetheless.
Unfortunately, the Chiefs didn’t just get eliminated from the playoff picture last week in their loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. They also saw superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes go down for the season and possibly some of next year due to a torn ACL.
This week, there is nothing but pride to play for against a bad Titans team. However, Kansas City could be facing a game without many more key players than just Mahomes.
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Outside of Mahomes, the Chiefs are dealing with multiple other injury issues to key players.
On Friday, Reid spoke out with a brutal update about his team’s injury status. There were many players who were unable to practice on Friday.
Among those players who did not practice on Friday were Leo Chenal, Derrick Nnadi, Trent McDuffie, Tyquan Thornton, Rashee Rice, Jaylon Moore, and Jawaan Taylor. All of those players have been role players or key players this season.
With Mahomes out, Kansas City will turn to backup signal caller Gardner Minshew. He has been a starter at times throughout his career and should be able to do a serviceable job for the Chiefs.
Another storyline that has become a big one throughout the NFL is the future of star tight end Travis Kelce. Many believe that he will end up choosing to retire following the 2025 season. If that is the case, there are just three games remaining in his NFL career.
Needless to say, it has been a rough all-around season for Kansas City. There hasn’t been much to be happy about or excited about for the future. A win doesn’t even move the needle this week, but would simply decrease their draft positioning.
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That being said, the Chiefs and Tennessee are scheduled to kick off this week’s game at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon. The game will be available on CBS.
It will be interesting to see which players are able to play for Kansas City this week. Reid and the coaching staff will likely be very cautious with the playoffs already out of the question.
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