Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL in the Chiefs loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Mahomes has been surprisingly resilient in the past five years with minor injuries that he was able to play through.
This marks a change to that narrative, and Mahomes may not be the only Pro Bowl high profile player with a torn ACL.
Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL and is out for the season. pic.twitter.com/XQL44Rvn7G
— NFL (@NFL) December 15, 2025
There are indications that Green Bay’s Micah Parsons may also have torn his ACL.
Breaking: The initial belief is that Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons suffered a torn ACL today, as reported by @ProFootballTalk.
There will be further testing to see if that is the case. pic.twitter.com/fyYtHL8P84
— ESPN (@espn) December 15, 2025
Why are there So Many Torn ACLs In NFL?
NFL purists may point to the turf as the cause of these injuries. When football was played on natural grass, it did not seem to be as prevalent.
The only good news about a torn ACL is that there have been so many that medical breakthroughs have assisted in speeding the recovery timeline.
The 18 week season, with games practically every day of the week at some point in the 17 game season, could be another factor. Extensive travel during the longer season to play European and South American games do not allow players to get much in-season rest beyond the bye week.
There Are Also Plenty Of Torn Achilles
Another soft tissue injury that has been far too plentiful in the NFL is the torn achilles. Indianapolis Colts QB Daniel Jones was the latest casualty.
Days before, it was Detriot Lions safety Brian Branch suffering the same injury.
Once again -and it seems to happen so often – a Detroit sports celebration is doused with ice cold water.
Brian Branch goes down with a torn Achilles. That may be a bridge too far.
And I’m with @TJLang70 – back to back Thursday games; not a great idea @NFL— Devin Scillian (@DevinScillian) December 5, 2025
With technology improved to speed up recovery of these soft tissue injuries, it makes us wonder why there are not ways for strength and conditioning coaches and programs to work with athletes to curtail the injuries.
It is an alarming trend in the NFL, and with big stars going down week after week, it hurts the morale of playoff bound teams and NFL late season product.
