Eerie Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady career similarities now include ACL injury
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL, ending his season and playoff hopes.
- Observers note Mahomes’ ninth-season ACL mirrors Tom Brady’s similar injury in 2008.
- Observers warn the injury could stall the Chiefs' dynasty momentum.
There is no bigger Chiefs fan among the national TV sports talk-show hosts than Nick Wright.
After the Chiefs’ playoff hopes were extinguished in a 16-13 loss to the Chargers, Wright wrote in an X post about KC’s dynastic run.
“It’s been a totally surreal 7 year run,” Wright wrote. “5 Super Bowl trips, 3 Rings, played in the Conference Championship game every single year. Everything caught up with them this year & they just didn’t have it. No shame in that, just is what it is. Now we just pray Patrick is OK.”
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, quarterback Patrick Mahomes is not OK. He has a torn ACL in his left knee and will miss the rest of the season.
Mahomes’ ninth season will end with him watching the Chiefs missing the playoffs. In an odd coincidence, NFL legend Tom Brady suffered a torn ACL in his knee during his ninth season. That came in the Patriots’ opener, which was against the Chiefs.
New England missed the playoffs that season.
But the career trajectories of Mahomes and Brady aren’t similar just because of the knee injury.
Wright had talked with Bill Simmons about the parallel trajectory of the careers of Brady and Mahomes in a podcast episode that was released Thursday.
“Some very odd and scary, for me at least, similarities. Tom Brady in his seventh year as a starter, stepped on the field in the Super Bowl, trying to win his fourth ring, knowing if we win this game, I am considered the undisputed goat, and this is considered the greatest team of all-time,” Wright said. “He lost the game in heartbreaking fashion, and then did not win a playoff game — one game — the next three years. Now, first year of that was tragic, Week 1, he gets his knee blown out ...
“Patrick in year seven, was playing for ring four, trying to become the undisputed greatest team ever if they pull off the three-peat, they lose that Super Bowl in very different fashion. He doesn’t get hurt the next year, but it looks like they’re going to be out of the tournament in year eight, and that scares me.”
Wright couldn’t have guessed that Mahomes would face a similar injury to Brady, who missed nearly the entire 2008 season. But that’s what happened just days after Wright talked about the Mahomes-Brady connection.
That strange connection between the careers of Mahomes and Brady wasn’t only noted by Wright. Others on social media made similar comparisons.
This story was originally published December 15, 2025 at 11:05 AM.
