Patrick Mahomes And The Chiefs Are Done In 2025 — Here's A Look Back At The Qb's Career Finishes In The Fantasy Football Playoffs

The Kansas City Chiefs’ dynasty was put on hold last weekend, with a loss to the Chargers and a torn ACL and LCL for Patrick Mahomes. Not only will the real-life playoffs move forward without the Chiefs for the first time since 2014, but the fantasy football playoffs move along without Mahomes, the first time we can say that in eight years.

So, today’s assignment was to shine a spotlight on Mahomes' history in the fantasy football playoffs, his Decembers to Remember. The funny thing is, he hasn’t been that dynamic in the fantasy playoffs through the years. He’s been good, but usually something short of a league-decider.

The aggregate monthly stats, while not a perfect overlap for fantasy playoff games, tell some of the story. Mahomes has a 95.8 career passer rating in December, a 7.41 YPA and 57 touchdown passes (4.68 touchdown rate) in 34 games. Those are all the lowest monthly outputs for his career. Perhaps it’s a statistical fluke, maybe it’s tied to bad weather here and there; you decide. It’s not a major step back from his career norms (7.7 YPA, 100.8 passer rating, 5.7 touchdown rate), but it’s a reduction.

Let’s go through the years of the fantasy playoffs and see how Mahomes has performed.

2018: QB3 for Weeks 14-16 (QB6, QB8, QB6)

Mahomes rarely had bad games during his breakout 2018 season, en route to his first MVP award. The Chiefs defense was pushing him to keep up that year — Kansas City had the top-scoring team in the league (565 points, the best offense in team history) but the 24th-ranked scoring defense. Throwing to peak Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelcewas a blast that season, and Kareem Hunt also popped at age 23. That trio combined for 37 of the team’s 66 touchdowns. The fun finally stopped in the AFC Championship Game, with the Patriots outracing the Chiefs in overtime, 37-31.

Deshaun Watson was QB1 for the fantasy playoffs that year, Aaron Rodgers QB2.

2019: QB6 for Weeks 14-16 (QB20, QB5, QB5)

The Patriots held Mahomes to 14.9 points in Week 14, but Mahomes did his thing against the Broncos and Bears the next two weeks. He was merely the QB8 for the season, in part because he missed two games and his touchdown rate fell from 8.6% to 5.4%. All was good come playoff time, as the Chiefs rolled through the Texans, Titans and 49ers and won their first Super Bowl in the Mahomes era.

Drew Brees finished QB1 for the fantasy playoffs in 2019, collecting 12 touchdown passes against zero picks. Breakout star Lamar Jackson was QB2, and the Jameis Winston carnival slotted at QB3. Winston’s three games in this segment were joys to behold — 1,249 passing yards, nine touchdowns, eight picks. One-of-one, man.

2020: QB8 for Weeks 14-16 (QB9, QB9, QB13)

After throwing just two picks in the first three months of the year, Mahomes had some wayward moments down the stretch, intercepted four times in this segment. Kansas City had a broken offensive line for most of that year but the tax didn’t come due until the Super Bowl, when the Tampa Bay front seven harried Mahomes into a blowout loss.

Mahomes charted as the QB3 for the full season, finishing behind Kyler Murray (imagine that) and Josh Allen. Allen, Jackson and Jalen Hurts scored the best in the fantasy playoffs that season.

2021: QB3 for Weeks 15-17 (QB2, QB5 QB8)

The longer season didn’t hold Mahomes back, as he rolled up 927 passing yards and eight touchdowns in the fantasy playoffs. Kelce and Hill both had nine touchdown catches that year, but I bet you can’t recall who was next on the list, catching five touchdowns. Kansas City rotated a bunch of backs that year but nobody made it to 600 yards rushing; as a result, Mahomes threw a career-high 658 times. Kansas City eventually lost in the AFC Championship game, taken down by the Bengals in overtime.

Joe Burrow and Josh Allen nudged out Mahomes in the fantasy playoffs. For the regular season, Mahomes charted QB4, behind Allen, Justin Herbert and Tom Brady.

2022: QB1 for Weeks 15-17 (QB4, QB7, QB4)

This was one of the cleanest Mahomes seasons in fantasy, as he was the QB1 for the full season and the playoffs. And he did it despite the loss of Hill; Kelce (12 touchdown catches) and journeyman Jerick McKinnon (nine touchdown catches) helped offset the loss.  Mahomes also ran in four touchdowns that year, a personal best at the time.

Allen and Hurts were behind Mahomes on the seasonal board, while Brady and Kirk Cousins were the other podium-position quarterbacks in the fantasy playoffs. The Chiefs won another real-life championship, holding off the Eagles, 38-35.

2023: QB16 (QB14, QB16, QB25)

This was the start of things flipping in Kansas City, as the Chiefs ranked 15th in scoring offense but second in scoring defense. Mahomes only cracked the top 10 among fantasy QBs in one of his final nine games. Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco (from his couch to the Browns!) and Jordan Love ruled the fantasy playoffs, while Allen, Hurts and Jackson had the regular-season podium finishes (Dak Prescott was fourth).

Despite the somewhat disappointing 11-6 finish, the Chiefs got their house in order in the playoffs, winning four straight and eventually beating San Francisco in the Super Bowl, a 25-22 decision in overtime.

2024: QB7 for Weeks 15-17 (QB15, QB4, QB7)

A slog at Cleveland in Week 15 might have eliminated some fantasy managers, but if you survived that, Mahomes answered the call against Houston and Pittsburgh. The Chiefs again were carried by their defense (fourth in points allowed) over their offense (15th in points scored). Mahomes steered the team back to the Super Bowl, but the Eagles romped to a decisive win on Super Sunday.

Jackson, Allen and Burrow held the podium for the regular season. Rookie sensation Jayden Daniels was QB1 in the playoffs, followed by Jared Goff and Jackson.

2025: QB24 in Week 15 (and injured)

Mahomes ended his first losing season with QB25 and QB24 finishes, but let’s not miss his overall success this season. He’s currently the QB2 in cumulative scoring, helped significantly by the most rushing production of his career (64-422-5). 

But the competitiveness of the Chiefs was supported by the defense — the team ranks fifth in points allowed but just 15th in points scored. Kelce has started to look his age, Rashee Rice missed six games, the other wideouts were inconsistent and Kansas City had an ordinary rushing game all year.

The Chiefs have a lot of difficult questions to answer as they enter an uncertain offseason.