Patrick Mahomes has faced comparison with Tom Brady for most of his career. And it’s not hard to see why. Multiple Super Bowls, MVPs, but more over, the idea of a dynasty built around one quarterback. But one parallel Mahomes probably never pictured himself sharing is his injury. This left Chiefs owner Clark Hunt’s wife, Tavia Hunt, in shock.

In his ninth season, he’s now dealing with the same injury that Brady went through in 2008. Mahomes tore his ACL on Sunday during the Kansas City Chiefs’ 16–13 Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Not long after the news broke, Tavia shared an Instagram story (originally posted by Jordan Schultz), laying out the eerie similarities between Mahomes’ injury and Brady’s.

The parallels are hard to ignore. Both quarterbacks suffered the injury in their ninth season. Both were coming off a Super Bowl loss the year before. And by the time they went down, each had already won three Super Bowl titles. But that’s where the similarities start to shift.

Back in 2008, Brady opened the season against the Chiefs at Gillette Stadium. Midway through the first quarter, a hit from Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard ended his night, and eventually his season. The New England Patriots later confirmed Brady had torn both his ACL and MCL, requiring surgery and snapping his streak of 111 consecutive starts.

Mahomes’ injury tells a slightly different story, mostly because of timing. Unlike Brady, he went down late, suffering a torn ACL in Week 15 of the 2025 season. By then, he had already played the bulk of the year and would now miss the final three regular-season games. Before exiting, Mahomes went 16-of-28 for 189 yards, threw one interception, took five sacks, and left the field after the two-minute warning with help from the training staff.

The injury itself mirrors Brady’s. The moment does not. And while Mahomes will surely want to follow the same comeback path (Brady went on to win four more Super Bowls after 2008), that part of the story can wait. For now, the torn ACL isn’t the only blow. The Chiefs have also been eliminated from the playoffs for the first time with Mahomes as their QB1, something that Tavia Hunt felt disappointed with.

Tavia Hunt reacted to Patrick Mahomes’ injury and the Chiefs’ elimination

Patrick Mahomes’ injury was painful on its own. However, what inarguably hurt even more was the Chiefs’ missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade. And not long after the season officially slipped away, Tavia Hunt took to Instagram with a message that captured the moment for Kansas City.

“Today didn’t end the way we hoped,” she captioned the post. “After a season full of effort and heart, missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade stings – and it’s okay to feel that disappointment.”

Going into Week 15, the Chiefs already needed help. Winning wasn’t enough on its own. They also needed at least one of the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, or the Houston Texans to stumble down the stretch. Instead, everything went wrong. Kansas City lost, Buffalo won, Jacksonville won, and Houston won, too.

Just like that, the playoff door slammed shut on the same night Mahomes went down with an injury that will keep him out for the final three games. Not long after leaving the field, Mahomes addressed the moment himself on X, writing:

“Don’t know why this had to happen. And not going to lie, it hurts. But all we can do now is Trust in God and attack every single day over and over again. Thank you, Chiefs kingdom, for always supporting me and for everyone who has reached out and sent prayers. I will be back stronger than ever ⏰.”

And Tavia Hunt echoed that message in her own quiet way. She reposted Mahomes’ statement to her Instagram Stories and added just three emojis: “❤️💔🙏.” No long caption. No extra explanation. Just support. Sunday wasn’t a good day for the Chiefs or Chiefs Kingdom. And while a bounce-back season is expected next year, a lot of that will depend on how aggressively Kansas City reshapes things in the offseason.