{"id":40280,"date":"2025-12-22T13:51:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T13:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40280"},"modified":"2025-12-22T13:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T13:53:07","slug":"breaking-how-chiefs-tried-to-fill-leadership-void-without-mahomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40280","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING : \ud83e\udde0\ud83d\udd25 Inside the Chiefs\u2019 Locker Room: How Kansas City Tried to Fill the Leadership Void Without Patrick Mahomes"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure data-player-type=\"mini\"><\/figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_176,w_4706,h_2647\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kd219ef8z4p4tst6df.jpg\" alt=\"Dec 21, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) tackles Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt (29) for a safety during the first half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013 It was a play that really epitomized the Chiefs\u2019 enigmatic season, first-and-11 from their own 2-yard line.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">Potentially Gardner Minshew\u2019s final snap in a Chiefs uniform, it cost Kansas City two points.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"inline-text-3\">Watch Chris Jones discuss below&#8230;<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kansas City Chiefs DT Chris Jones Reviews Tennessee Titans Loss\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CB4Z0CtTlek?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">Game-wrecker Jeffery Simmons swam through a Tennessee-sized hole on the left side of Kansas City\u2019s line and dropped Kareem Hunt in the end zone for a Titans safety.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith generally let their actions speak for themselves. But on the sideline after the play, their vocal wrath was directed at rookie left tackle Esa Pole.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">\u201cWake the f&#8212; up! Let\u2019s go,\u201d Smith could be seen yelling at Pole, who apparently missed an assignment.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_5050,h_2840\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kd21g25ng7xrzpf3j2.jpg\" alt=\"hunt simmon\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"inline-text-9\">Rookie mistake<\/h3>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">Instead of blocking down on Simmons, Pole turned away from the Pro Bowler and pass blocked Jihad Ward, leaving Hunt exposed in the middle of the end zone.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\">\u201cYeah, it&#8217;s our job to be leaders,\u201d Humphrey said. \u201cWe&#8217;ve been here a while. We played a lot of ball here. So, it&#8217;s our job to be leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4050,h_2278\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kd21j6vxps7f8dfd7h.jpg\" alt=\"andy rei\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\">Afterward, Andy Reid noticed Smith and Humphrey stepping in to fill the leadership void created by Patrick Mahomes\u2019 season-ending knee injury.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\">\u201cYeah, I thought they did a good job with that,\u201d Reid explained. \u201cWe had a mistake there that needed corrected, and they got to it before the coaches got to it, even before we get them off the field. That&#8217;s all part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4000,h_2250\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kd21m5sdjwx1tphqac.jpg\" alt=\"chris oladoku\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"inline-text-16\">Mahomes in contact<\/h3>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\">Mahomes tried to be as much a part of it as possible. Unable to travel with the team so soon after Monday surgery to repair the ACL and LCL in his left knee, Mahomes still exchanged texts with Minshew before the game.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\">And afterward, when Chris Oladokun walked into the locker room and picked up his phone, Mahomes had already reached out.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4000,h_2250\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kd21r50an54fb6gc51.jpg\" alt=\"chris oladoku\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-20\">\u201cHe was the first text I saw,\u201d said Oladokun, who took over midway through the second quarter and finished the game. \u201cJust that&#8217;s the type of guy he is. We&#8217;ve gotten gone pretty close over the last four years. I don&#8217;t have a big brother, so in a way, he\u2019s taken over like a big brother. Not only on the field and in my development, but also off the field.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-21\">&#8220;He&#8217;s a great friend and he&#8217;s like that with everyone. There&#8217;s not a bad thing I can say about him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-22\">Reid said the practice week showed a lot of players filling the leadership role, but the team made too many errors on Sunday. In addition to missed assignments, Kansas City also committed 10 penalties.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_2539,h_1428\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kd21vhk90kmjyayckq.jpg\" alt=\"pollar\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-24\">\u201cYou expect other people to step up and go,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I thought I saw that this week, guys trying to step in and raising it up a little. But it wasn&#8217;t good enough.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-25\">\u201cYou have to eliminate these mistakes. That&#8217;s a biggest thing in a game like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-27\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013 It was a play that really epitomized the Chiefs\u2019 enigmatic season, first-and-11 from their own 2-yard line.  Potentially Gardner Minshew\u2019s fi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kansas-city-chiefs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING : \ud83e\udde0\ud83d\udd25 Inside the Chiefs\u2019 Locker Room: How Kansas City Tried to Fill the Leadership Void Without Patrick Mahomes - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING : \ud83e\udde0\ud83d\udd25 Inside the Chiefs\u2019 Locker Room: How Kansas City Tried to Fill the Leadership Void Without Patrick Mahomes - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013 It was a play that really epitomized the Chiefs\u2019 enigmatic season, first-and-11 from their own 2-yard line. 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