Frozen fracture: Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes’ helmet shatters in frigid NFL playoff matchup

Patrick Mahomes
Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Jan 13, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) runs the ball against the Miami Dolphins during the first half of the 2024 AFC wild card game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

How cold is it in Kansas City? Even the helmets aren’t safe.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes found that out on a broken play, quite literally, during the third quarter of the Chiefs’ frigid wild-card game against the Miami Dolphins.

As the two teams braved sub-zero temperatures and dangerously low wind chills, Patrick Mahomes guided the Chiefs deep into Dolphins’ territory with a 16-7 left. On a second-down play with 9:25 left in the third quarter, Mahomes escaped the pocket and scrambled toward the end zone.

Dolphins safety DeShon Elliott met Mahomes at the 3-yard line and came in helmet first. The helmet-to-helmet collision was hard enough to shatter Patrick Mahomes’ helmet. A piece of the helmet flew off at impact, an obvious result of the temperature being minus-6, with a wind chill of minus-27 at the time of the play.

Despite the headfirst collision, the officials didn’t call a penalty on the play, a surprise considering the shattered helmet was an obvious result of a helmet-to-helmet impact. Mahomes stayed in the game for two more plays with a gaping hole in the front of his helmet before the officials made him swap it out on the sidelines for a new helmet.

X was abuzz with activity about Mahomes’ shattered helmet in one of the coldest NFL games ever.

Three plays after Mahomes’ helmet-shattering run, the Chiefs went up 19-7 on Harrison Butker’s 21-yard field goal.

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