Patrick Mahomes tears ACL, Broncos eke past Packers and Bills tighten AFC East: NFL Week 15 Sunday review

By Frank Nunns O’Connell, CNN

(CNN) — The theme of the 2025 NFL regular season has been one of extreme unpredictability: Super Bowl favorites performing below usual standards, unexpected comebacks and breakout teams taking the league by storm.

Those themes took center stage once again on Sunday as there were some thrilling matchups in the playoff hunt, as well as superstars suffering big injury blows.

Here’s everything you need to know from Sunday’s action in Week 15 of the 2025 season.

Mahomes tears ACL as Chiefs miss playoffs

Is this the end of an era? The Kansas City Chiefs were officially eliminated from playoff contention after a 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

That wasn’t even the worst news of the weekend for Kansas City, as superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes went down with a left knee injury in the fourth quarter, later confirmed to be a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

With the Chiefs down three late in the fourth quarter, Mahomes was sprinting towards the sideline and throwing the ball away when he was tackled by Chargers defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand, leaving the three-time Super Bowl winner clutching his left knee in pain.

“It didn’t look good,” said Chiefs head coach Andy Reid after the game.

Later, Kansas City released an update, saying: “An MRI has confirmed that Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes sustained a torn ACL in his left knee in today’s game. Patrick and the club are currently exploring surgical options.”

Mahomes posted his thoughts on X, saying: “Don’t know why this had to happen. And not going to lie it’s hurts.

“Thank you Chiefs kingdom for always supporting me and for everyone who has reached out and sent prayers. I Will be back.”

Gardner Minshew filled in under center for the remaining 1:53 and completed three straight passes, giving the Arrowhead Stadium faithful hope that their dwindling playoff chances could be resuscitated.

But with 20 seconds left, Minshew unloaded a pass at star tight end Travis Kelce which was underthrown and intercepted by Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. at the LA 18-yard line to effectively end the contest.

The pick put a wrap on the Chiefs’ playoff hopes, breaking a 10-year NFL postseason appearance streak for Kansas City – a time span that includes seven-straight AFC championship game appearances, five Super Bowl appearances in the last six seasons and three Vince Lombardi trophies.

But the overarching worry for the Chiefs will be the health of Mahomes moving forward, with ACL tears usually requiring a rehabilitation time of over six months.

“That dude puts so much into it,” Minshew said on the team’s franchise player postgame.

“I don’t think I’ve ever respected anyone I’ve played with more. I’ve never seen anyone I’ve played with give so much to the team.

“But I have more confidence in him, more than anyone, to come back and be better than ever.”

Parsons goes down in Packers loss

Sunday was also a double whammy for Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers in a loss to the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos held on for a 34-26 win over Green Bay, which lost star pass rusher Parsons to a non-contact knee injury late in the third quarter while chasing down Denver quarterback Bo Nix.

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported that Parsons is believed to have suffered a torn ACL, but nothing has been confirmed by the Packers.

“It didn’t look good. I’ll leave it at that,” Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said afterwards.

Parsons’ injury will serve as a devastating blow for the Packers, who fell a half-game behind the Chicago Bears in the NFC North ahead of their matchup at Soldier Field next weekend.

Conversely, Denver will be buoyed by it’s 11th consecutive victory, which simultaneously clinched a playoff spot for the Broncos as they moved to 12-2 on the year, top of the AFC.

Second-year quarterback Nix had a standout performance, throwing 23-of-34 for 302 yards and tying a career high with four touchdown passes.

The highlight performance came in comeback fashion, as the Packers opened the second half with a touchdown drive to take a 23-14 lead. After a three-and-out drive from Nix and the Denver offense, the Packers QB Jordan Love looked to Christian Watson with a deep ball, but reigning Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II got the pick and turned the momentum.

“I think a play like that, a sudden turnover, just gets some adrenaline, gets some emotion back in the game,” said Nix, who capitalized on the takeaway by leading a seven-play, 71-yard touchdown drive that trimmed Denver’s deficit to 23-21.

The Broncos then dominated the rest of the contest, holding the Packers to a field goal early in the fourth and scoring two touchdowns of their own to hold on for the win at Empower Field.

“We got a lot of fight,” Surtain said. “The Packers, they got a great team on both sides of the ball. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We kept reiterating that throughout the whole ball game: just finish, finish, finish and we’ll get the job done.”

Bills rally to close gap on Patriots

Elsewhere, the Buffalo Bills rallied from 21-0 down against the New England Patriots to pull out a 35-31 win and prevent the Pats from clinching the AFC East division title.

Josh Allen had a big outing, throwing 19-of-28 for 193 yards and three touchdowns – including two to tight end Dawson Knox – and adding 48 rushing yards on the day. Running back James Cook pitched in with 107 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and a TD reception as the Bills avoided being swept by a division opponent for the first time since 2019 and moved within one game of the Patriots, per the Associated Press.

Buffalo fell into the 21-point hole with 5:53 left in the first half courtesy of two rushing touchdowns from Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and a 52-yard TD run from rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson.

But it was all Buffalo from there, as the Bills scored 35 points to the Patriots 10 across the rest of the game.

Still, even with the big comeback, the Patriots still had a chance to come out with the win as they had fourth-and-5 on their own 22, trailing only by four with 2:43 left. The Bills defense came up big though as Maye was flushed out of the pocket and had his pass batted down by Joey Bosa to seal the game.

“No matter what the score is – if it’s in the third quarter, in the fourth quarter, whatever it is – if we’ve got a chance and we’ve got the ball, we feel like we like our chances,” Allen said afterwards.

The victory moves the Bills just one game behind the Patriots, who had won 10 games straight coming into the matchup.

“We know we have some football that’s still very important. Keep your head up, knowing that we had a chance. We were there. They made more plays and credit to them,” Maye said.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to keep your foot on the pedal and keep it going, and don’t let them dictate.”

Full Sunday Week 15 scores

Away @ home (winners in bold)

Baltimore Ravens 24-0 Cincinnati Bengals

Las Vegas Raiders 0-31 Philadelphia Eagles

Arizona Cardinals 20-40 Houston Texans

Los Angeles Chargers 16-13 Kansas City Chiefs

Buffalo Bills 35-31 New England Patriots

New York Jets 20-48 Jacksonville Jaguars

Washington Commanders 29-21 New York Giants

Cleveland Browns 3-31 Chicago Bears

Carolina Panthers 17-20 New Orleans Saints

Detroit Lions 34-41 Los Angeles Rams

Indianapolis Colts 16-18 Seattle Seahawks

Green Bay Packers 26-34 Denver Broncos

Tennessee Titans 24-37 San Francisco 49ers

Minnesota Vikings 34-26 Dallas Cowboys

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