Patrick Mahomes is the poster child of the NFL — optimistic, talented, and entertaining. He seems to have every trick in the book up his sleeve. His talents were on display Sunday night, as the Kansas City Chiefs steamrolled the Bills in the AFC championship, with Mahomes leading his team to their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance.
Until he was cleared from a potential concussion on Friday, however, no one knew if he could play in the pivotal matchup.
When he struggled to his feet and then trudged off the field one week earlier after taking a massive hit against the Cleveland Browns, it seemed certain that Mahomes had a concussion. For nearly a week, no one – from Chiefs Coach Andy Reid to Mahomes himself – had any idea whether the Kansas City superstar would be able to take the field on Sunday.
In the end, Mahomes was cleared to play after extensive tests. Two days later, he and the Chiefs thrashed the Bills in front of a socially-distanced crowd at Arrowhead Stadium. While Mahomes was clearly ecstatic as he closed in on a victory, we should acknowledge that we witnessed something far more important than the clinching of a Super Bowl berth. The fact that the enforcement of the league’s protocols came anywhere close to resulting in the benching of its flagship quarterback for a championship game means that the NFL is starting to prove – finally – that it’s committed to taking concussions seriously.
It’s been a long time coming.
The current concussion protocol is rigorous, with players required to go through various stages of testing. If they are diagnosed with a concussion, they go through five steps of recovery before an independent physician can confirm a player has recovered sufficiently. Last week, doctors weren’t sure whether Mahomes had a concussion or not. But, according to the Washington Post, his stumbling after being hit could have been a symptom of a concussion, and sideline doctors made the call to take him out of the game. However, Chiefs’ coach Andy Reid knew that not so long ago, Mahomes might have just shaken off the hit and stayed on the field.
“There was a chance back in the day that Patrick comes back in (the game),” Reid said on Monday. “You saw him run up the tunnel. By the time he got to that point, he was feeling pretty good. But there’s a certain protocol you have to follow and that takes it out of the trainer’s hand and the player’s hand and the doctor’s hand.”
Unfortunately, “back in the day” really isn’t that long ago. As the medical impact of concussions has been researched, and the long-term effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) on football players’ brains (such as one famous 2017 study finding evidence of CTE in the brains of 110 of 111 former NFL players) have been explored, the NFL has been forced to address some of the dangers of football by changing its practices.
For example, as the Boston Globe covered in 2018, the NFL has gradually increased the number of concussion specialist staff at all games across the past decade to avoid missing concussions. Every stadium has two ATC (trained athletic trainers) spotters who watch live video feeds for possible concussions, and three independent UNCs (unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants). However, even with such administrative changes, protocols have often lagged behind in application.
The NFL’s current concussion protocol was instituted in 2013. Only two years later, Rams quarterback Case Keenum kept playing in a 2015 game against the Ravens after suffering a serious concussion, highlighting just how easy it was for a player to slip through the new system. Then, in 2017, Texans quarterback Tom Savage kept playing after a hit left him on the ground, hands trembling (a major concussion symptom). In response, scrutiny was increased further.
More changes came — such as new rules to avoid large collisions on kick returns — and concussions did decrease between the 2017 and 2018 seasons after the NFL announced a “call to action” regarding the damaging consequences of concussions. But moments like Keenum’s concussion — where professional athletes continue to play through ignorance or dismissal of concussion protocols — serve as an ongoing test of the efficacy of the league’s protocols.
In 2021, Mahomes’ injury was an example of such a test, and the fact that both Mahomes and Ravens superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson were removed from their respective games for potential concussions indicates that the NFL is — slowly — making progress.
Many current and former players have come out in support of the changes. In an interview with TMZ last week, Brett Favre voiced concern for Mahomes following his potential injury while discussing his own health.
“When you’re in the moment, and you’re young, (you think) you’re bulletproof, man,” Favre said. “But, I’m 51 years old and I’m wondering what tomorrow will bring because of concussions more than anything.”
Thankfully, the system seems to have worked this time. The decision wasn’t Reid’s or Mahomes’ to make, and the doctors and neurologists responsible made the call that Mahomes was free to play. He looked as bright as ever Sunday evening, and now a second consecutive Super Bowl is on the horizon for the 25-year-old, aided by the confidence of having passed concussion protocols.
Doctors have been crying out for change for years – and at long last, the NFL seems to be listening.