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Patrick Mahomes suffered a nasty ankle injury during the first quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs' Divisional Round bout with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He ultimately returned to the game, but backup Chad Henne had to step in.
Henne performed admirably in Mahomes' absence -- so much so that Mahomes took to Instagram to share a meme praising his backup.
Henne ended up throwing for 23 yards and a touchdown on five pass completions during Mahomes' absence. Eventually, Mahomes returned with a heavily taped ankle and threw his second touchdown of the game.
Mahomes was able to finish the game, but it was clear he was suffering. Had he been unable to finish the game, the Chiefs would have had to turn to Henne for the remainder of the match.
In Mahomes' opinion, that would have been fine and Henne would have risen to the occasion.
Will the Kansas City Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes for the AFC title game?
After the game, it was revealed that Mahomes officially suffered a high ankle sprain. This often takes a lot of time to recover from, so it's a bit miraculous that he was able to return to the game at all.
ESPN analyst Adam Schefter tweeted:
"MRI today confirmed that Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain during Saturday’s win over the Jaguars, per league source. 'Nothing more than that,' said one source, and Mahomes has said he plans to play in next Sunday’s AFC Championship Game."
That doesn't bode well for a matchup with either the Cincinnati Bengals or Buffalo Bills. Both teams present great threats and no Mahomes or a hobbled Mahomes is going to make life difficult.
However, the quarterback maintains he will play and there is no other information other than the high ankle sprain diagnosis.
Mahomes will have about a week to heal his ankle or else watch Chad Henne try and bring the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2021.
If Henne can channel the clutch nature Mahomes referenced in his Instagram post, perhaps that won't be an issue.
