Is Patrick Mahomes playing this week against the Broncos?

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are looking forward to become the first team to record three championships in a row.

Is Patrick Mahomes playing this week against the Broncos?

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have almost a month rest before the Divisional Round playoffs after the Week 18 game. (Image via The Arrowhead Pride)

The Kansas City Chiefs play the Denver Broncos in Week 18 in a meaningless game. The Chiefs have secured the first seed in the AFC with their 15-1 record already. Furthermore, The Chiefs, no thanks to the hard hitting loss to the Buffalo Bills, need not worry about keeping their regular season perfect.

The Chiefs, who played their last game on Christmas, have decided to rest multiple starters including two-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes so that they can have a well-deserved month-long rest before their first playoff game. Mahomes has led a pretty uneventful season not counting the one possession games – Kansas City Chiefs hasn’t scored more than 30 points in a single game this season. Maybe, they are saving the best for the postseason, to guerilla attack the opponents into submission.

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Carson Wentz will lead the Chiefs in the absence of Patrick Mahomes. Wentz, the highest drafted FCS player in history, joined the Chiefs in 2024. He started for quite some time in Philadelphia, where he was drafted. In 2021, Wentz joined the Indianapolis Colts followed by stints in Washington and Los Angeles Rams.

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Wentz has geared up twice this season for the Chiefs and completed 2 passes for a perfect completion score for twenty yards. Despite being a Super Bowl champion, and making the Pro Bowl, he won’t be the same as Mahomes. Considering multiple starters find the benches this week, Wentz has a huge task ahead of him.

However, Wentz starting and many starters on the bench is not at all good for the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals who entered a salvation arc to steer their ship to 8-8, need the Chiefs to defeat the Broncos if they are to qualify for the playoffs. Furthermore, they also need the Jets to defeat the Miami Dolphins and of course, the Bengals have to win their last game too.

Dan Orlovsky thinks Chiefs offense without Patrick Mahomes is the least-feared in AFC

In his Monday analysis, former Detroit Lions quarterback and current NFL analyst, Dan Orlovsky, evaluated the playoff-bound teams, excluding quarterback performance. He ranked teams based solely on the contributions of other offensive starters, the quality of their play-calling, and the effectiveness of their offensive schemes.

Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes (Image via Imago)

Orlovsky went on to admit that the Kansas City Chiefs offense are not dangerous without Patrick Mahomes to lead them.

And then in the AFC, I would probably tell you that I would fear Baltimore’s offense the most. And honestly, I think I would fear the Chiefs offense the least.

Orlovsky said.

Orlovsky pointed out that the Lions would be the most dangerous in the NFC while LA Rams would be the least dangerous. Terry Bradshaw, another NFL analyst, had his take on the Kansas City Chiefs couple of days ago. Bradshaw admitted that he doesn’t think the Kansas City Chiefs could eliminate the others to win the Super Bowl. He also named Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills as potential teams to defeat the Chiefs.

Having said that, the Chiefs have a long rest ahead of them. There remains some speculations that the rest could alter their momentum – forcing them to pick up against the Divisional rivals.

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