Chiefs backup QB Gardner Minshew says what needs to be said about Patrick Mahomes after crushing injury in loss to Chargers
Kansas City Chiefs backup QB Gardner Minshew has the utmost respect for Patrick Mahomes and how he goes about business.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ 2025 NFL season aspirations fizzled out in Week 15’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
All day long, it felt as if it took maximum effort to gain a single yard on offense. It was the culmination of season-long scheme issues and personnel issues plagued by injury. Still, the team had a chance late in the game to change its fortunes. With 5:20 to go, the Chiefs trailed the Chargers by three points. The defense got the ball back to the offense, putting K.C. in the exact opportunity they had struggled with in recent weeks: Finishing in the fourth quarter.
After marching across the midfield mark ahead of the two-minute warning, disaster struck for Kansas City. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes suffered a bad-looking left knee injury and was replaced by backup QB Gardner Minshew. It felt very representative of the whole season, with the pendulum just not swinging the Chiefs’ way.
Gardner Minshew admits Patrick Mahomes gives more to this Chiefs team than anyone he’s ever played with
Asked about the frustration over how things had gone the past several weeks, Gardner Minshew stated the obvious in his postgame media availability. However, he also gave some insight as a first-year player into exactly who Patrick Mahomes is as a leader.
“Yeah, it’s very frustrating,” Minshew said. “Man, it’s been hard to watch for Pat (Mahomes). Like that dude puts so much into it. I don’t think I’ve ever respected anybody I play with more. I’ve never seen anybody I play with give so much of themselves to the team, and to not get the results is hard, but I have more confidence in him than anybody to come back and be better than ever.”
How exactly has that gone over the past few weeks as Mahomes has tried to work out the issues on offense? Minshew says it’s all about showing up and being consistent, even when things are hard.
“He just shows up every day,” Minshew said. “You know, every play, every work day, just giving it his best, trying to lead. And, yeah, he’s the best.”
Minshew faced the same dilemma as Patrick Mahomes in the final seconds of Week 15
Minshew hadn’t thrown a pass in an NFL regular-season game all season long, despite appearing in Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens and Week 7 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Asked about his comfort level going into the game in that situation, Minshew said he was as cool as a cucumber. He only wishes the results had been different.
“Yeah, I felt very comfortable to go in and execute the offense,” Minshew said. “You know, hate that situation, hate that I couldn’t deliver and get us a win and keep our hopes alive.”
A major indictment of how the Chiefs’ season ended is that Minshew faced precisely the same problems as Mahomes. Just last week, after the loss to the Houston Texans, Mahomes spoke about man coverage and the issues it has posed for teams in recent weeks.
“We have to keep giving them different looks and different things to beat the man coverage as far as giving our guys opportunities to get themselves open,” Mahomes said. “And then what will be important is getting with our guys and know what’s their best routes against man coverage and getting them those routes in the right situation. That’s stuff that we’ve done and we go through waves of being able to beat it then teams obviously adjust and stuff like that so we have to make those adjustments as well again and showcase that we can beat the man coverage…”
Minshew seemed to be in a bit of a groove after his first few snaps. He’d thrown a few completions to Travis Kelce and one to Rashee Rice. However, when the Chargers went into man coverage on a key down-and-distance, it left Minshew with no clear outlet. He threw the ball to Kelce, hoping that the future Hall of Famer would make a play. In the end, it was Derwin James who made the play, picking off the ball and ending the team’s playoff hopes.
“They were in man coverage,” Minshew said. “(I) tried to make, you know, take a shot to Trav (Travis Kelce). (I) probably should have kept it moving.”
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