December 15, 2025
Which Team Currently Outside A Playoff Spot Has The Best Chance To Grab One?
Week 15 Ends in Disaster For Kansas City
What Happened: Entering Week 15 of the season, things were already looking bleak for the Kansas City Chiefs. Sporting a losing record (6-7) in a division featuring the NFL-leading Denver Broncos and a Los Angeles Chargers team bruising its way to a playoff spot, Patrick Mahomes and Co. had plenty of work to do. A win against those Chargers on Sunday would bump KC’s playoff odds all the way from 10% to…16%, per official NFL projections. Hey, still a chance!
Falling 16-13 to the Bolts yesterday ended any slim hope of Andy Reid’s team sneaking into the playoffs. Somehow, that’s not the worst news the team got this weekend.
Why You Care: The Chiefs missing the 2025 edition of the playoffs could be spun as a positive. After all, this is a team that’s played a lot of football since Mahomes took over as starting QB in 2018, accumulating a lot of wear and tear over multiple trips to the Super Bowl. And with the best QB on the planet papering over some roster deficiencies, going home early could’ve prompted the team’s front office to address the depth chart’s real issues and not just wait for Mahomes to ball out and bail out everyone else again like he normally does.
But things got so much worse when KC’s franchise passer went down in a heap near his own sideline in the 4th quarter yesterday. Mahomes tearing his ACL not only sealed the team’s fate this season, but it also endangers 2026 as well.
Mahomes is looking at surgery and a rehab process that will require at minimum 6 months, but can often take a full year to recover from. There’s real concern that he won't be ready for the 2026 opener due to how late in the calendar year this injury occurred.
One lost season in the prime of a franchise quarterback's career seems almost inevitable. Tom Brady missed all but one game in the 2008 campaign with his own ACL tear, while Peyton Manning sat out all of 2011 due to a neck injury. The ugly timing of Mahomes’ injury, however, could be a nightmare scenario for KC fans - two seasons down the drain.
Keep An Eye On...
Seriously though, this Philip Rivers story is unlike anything we’ve seen in sports. A 44-year old grandpa who hasn’t played professionally in nearly 5 years eases off his couch, gets in a practice or two, and has his team winning with under a minute to play. (Don’t ask what happened next.)
Too little, too late though? Unfortunately, yesterday was close to a do-or-die game for Indy. Overcome the loss of QB Daniel Jones and win, and the team had a better than 50-50 shot at securing a trip to the postseason. That didn’t happen, and now, facing three likely playoff teams to round out the season, the Colts’ playoff odds are sub-30%.
Which Team Is Under The Most Pressure In Week 15?
Detroit Lions — 64%
Back at it tomorrow,
Jimmy