The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off the worst season of the Patrick Mahomes era and arguably the most humbling stretch in Andy Reid’s tenure. Kansas City finished 6-11 in 2025, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014, and posted a losing record for the first time since 2012.
Mahomes suffered a torn ACL and LCL in the Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers that officially ended the team’s postseason hopes. Now, as he works his way back for the start of the new season, four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski believes the Chiefs’ mini-dynasty is done.
Rob Gronkowski Makes the Case That Kansas City’s Mini-Dynasty Is Over
From 2018 to 2024, Mahomes led the Chiefs to five Super Bowl appearances and three championships, a stretch of sustained dominance that few franchises in NFL history have matched.
Gronkowski, who won three titles with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, made his case on the “Up and Adams Show,” placing Kansas City in a category no one associated with the franchise since Mahomes took over.
“I kind of put them in the Tier 2 bucket; I feel like they’re not Tier 1 right now,” Gronkowski said about the Chiefs. “Patrick Mahomes, coming off of the injury, you know, he’s gonna have to prove to everyone first that he’s still the elite quarterback that we all know him, you know, to be. I mean, they just didn’t really put it together last year as well. Feel like a lot of teams figured them out.”
Gronkowski also mentioned that teams in the past were afraid to play the Chiefs, but that changed last year, and every team came out strong against them, trying to “smack them in the face,” and showing that “we’re not scared of you guys anymore.”
START PREPARING: PFN’s Free Fantasy Draft Simulator
“The first era of their dynasty, they had a mini dynasty, there’s no doubt about that, that is over, it is,” Gronkowski added. “They didn’t go to the playoffs last year. They got smacked all over the field. Patrick Mahomes went down. Just nothing went their way last year. If they’re going to have another dynasty, you know, it starts now.”
“But if they don’t win this year, it’s over?” Kay Adams asked, to which Gronkowski answered, “Yeah, it’s over for sure.”
Kay: “If they don’t win this year it’s over?”
Gronk: “Yeah it’s over for sure.”
The 4x Super Bowl champ on where the Chiefs dynasty stands heading into 2026:@RobGronkowski | @heykayadams pic.twitter.com/lUZ2IB1z99
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) September 4, 2026
Coming from a player who lived through the Patriots’ dynasty, the take is surprising. New England went 10 years without a Super Bowl win, from the 2004 season to the 2014 season, and nobody declared the dynasty dead during that stretch. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick kept competing at the highest level, and the titles eventually came again.
BE THE GM OF YOUR FAVORITE TEAM: PFN’s Free NFL Mock Draft Simulator
The Chiefs won Super Bowl 58 just two seasons ago with a victory over the San Francisco 49ers, and Mahomes is only 30 years old. Depending on how he looks after his ACL recovery, he could have eight or nine more years of elite-level football ahead of him, which is why declaring the dynasty over after one bad season feels premature.
That said, Gronkowski’s broader point about roster evolution carries weight. The Patriots’ second wave of championships required new impact players, most notably Julian Edelman and Gronkowski himself. Kansas City faces a similar inflection point as Travis Kelce and Chris Jones approach the back end of their careers.
Jones, who has been the Chiefs’ best defensive player during their success with Mahomes, ranked ninth on PFN’s DT Impact Rankings last season. Kelce, on the other hand, despite his age, finished as the fifth-best tight end in the league last season with an impact score of 80.6 on PFN’s TE Impact Metric.
The good news for the Chiefs is that the front office hasn’t been standing still. Kansas City used first-round picks on cornerback Mansoor Delane and defensive lineman Peter Woods, added Kenneth Walker III in free agency to overhaul the run game, and got promising training camp performances from fifth-round wide receiver Cyrus Allen and rookie running back Emmett Johnson.
PREDICT THE NFL SEASON: PFN’s Free NFL Playoff Predictor
George Karlaftis and cornerback Nohl Williams give the team a young defensive foundation, and R Mason Thomas flashed enough in the preseason to suggest he could contribute on the defensive line alongside Jones.
The current Chiefs’ roster has more upside than many former players believe. However, if Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy continue to struggle or miss games, Kansas City could target a receiver in the 2027 draft or pursue a blockbuster trade for a proven talent like Justin Jefferson if the Vikings continue to surround him with middling quarterback play.
The Chiefs have been disrespected all offseason, and the only way to silence the critics is by winning. That opportunity starts on Monday Night Football on September 14, when they take on the Denver Broncos.
Denver won the AFC West last season with a 14-3 record, earned the conference’s No. 1 seed, and swept Kansas City for the first time in a decade. If Mahomes is healthy and the retooled roster performs, the dynasty conversation could shift quickly, but if they stumble, then Gronkowski will ultimately be proven right.
