It Was a Classic Run.

The Chiefs face their mortality

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Patrick Mahomes is already charting his return, and his Chiefs franchise is already — and fervently — counting the days until that blessed moment occurs. But I’m calling it: One of the most impressive recent team runs in NFL history ended last weekend on the frigid playing field just outside Kansas City proper.

No one knows what Mahomes will be once he has fully recovered from the ACL tear that required surgery this week — and that is assuming “fully recovered” is even a thing. The ACL is an anterior cruciate ligament, and it’s sort of important as a component of your knee if you are a quarterback who forever has used his mobility to escape NFL pass-rushers, who will only grow bigger, stronger and faster over the next nine-plus months.

That is the given recovery time for ACL patients — nine months or so. The “or so” part seems pretty important to the Chiefs, who are firmly grasping the notion that Mahomes, truly one of the great quarterbacks we’ve been lucky enough to see in our lifetimes, will somehow pull off an expedited comeback.

“I think he’ll do great with the rehab. He’s a pretty fast healer that way,” said Chiefs head coach Andy Reid (whom I love), thus confirming that he is not actually a medical specialist.

The Chiefs’ top medicine and performance guy, Rick Burkholder, was more measured. “Ballpark on this is nine months, but it could be a month or two more, a month or two less,” Burkholder told reporters. “[Athletes] don’t heal up faster; they just get back to performance faster.”

Dare to dream.

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The Chiefs’ run under Reid is nothing short of remarkable. Any team that reaches the Super Bowl five times in six years has earned a “dynasty” tag that, while it doesn’t make a ton of sense in the real world, is completely understood by any sports fan.

Nobody goes to the Super Bowl that often, period. That’s sports-dynasty stuff. There is just no question about it.

Andy Reid is a superb play-caller, and in almost all of those seasons, the Chiefs proceeded primarily because their offense was hot. But every bit of that ties directly to Mahomes, who led K.C. to three Super Bowl titles during that span. He earned his rings, and his wings.

Mahomes’ left knee gave out of him last weekend in the most sickening way. Nothing happened, really. He was backpedaling on a play against the Chargers, and his left knee buckled, and that was it. It betrayed him. Mahomes got tackled by L.A.’s Da’Shawn Hand, but it wasn’t Hand who caused the injury. It just happened, plain and awful — a lot of years, a lot of miles.

Now Mahomes, who had surgery Monday in Dallas, is aiming for the shortest rehab imaginable, and the possibility of being ready for Kansas City’s season opener in 2026. But the team he returns to, even if he’s on the shortest rehab schedule in the world, is bound to be different — and so is he.

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If you’re Travis Kelce, for example, this is your sign. It’s time to go. Kelce was already wavering about his future, and this season has been a straight struggle for him at age 36, and now the Mahomes thing — listen, man, take your victory lap and head out. Enjoy your marriage. See the world.

Andy Reid, too, could call it a career. Reid is 67, and this year marks his 27th season as a head coach. I grant you that Reid hasn’t often evinced much interest in anything other than football (and perhaps burgers, a subject on which his expertise is not in question), but the loss of Mahomes just makes this all so real.

I am speculating here, but I won’t be surprised if Reid decides this is a good time to go. The future is uncertain. The Chiefs could suffer. They’ve enjoyed such a remarkable run. Any head coach who’s thoroughly financially secure, as Reid already is, would at least be considering whether it’s better to surf out of the wave than to let it close out on you.

“He’s going to battle through this. It’s the only way this guy is wired, man,” Kelce said of Mahomes on the podcast he shares with his brother. “He’s a fearless, fearless warrior when it comes to this football thing. He’s going to make sure he comes back stronger than ever.”

I believe that. I believe Mahomes will try. But nothing lasts forever in the NFL — not the great quarterbacks, not the great teams. What we’re witnessing is the changing of the guard — a post-season without the Chiefs, where not too long ago that would be unimaginable. It is, indeed, a sign.