The Wall Street Journal - 19.10.2019 - 20.10.2019

A12| Saturday/Sunday, October 19 - 20, 2019 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

defense is facing decisive

games,in October.

“Most teams that have

won in the past don’t win

the year after,” Guardiola

said this month, admitting

the possibility that City’s

shot at a third successive

championship may be slip-

ping away. “Of course, we

want to be close.”

Last season, City pulled it-

self out of a seven-point hole

to catch Liverpool and win

the league by a point.

But City would have

greater reason to be hopeful

this time around if Liverpool

weren’t so perfect right now.

The club’s relentlessness in

taking the maximum 24

points from eight games has

meant that even minor slip-

ups from City—and occasion-

ally plain bad luck—were se-

verely punished.

Guardiola is the first to

remind fans, his players, and

himself that the Premier

League slog is painfully

long—you could play an en-

tire NFL season twice. But

the lesson of the Guardiola

era that really stuck in Eng-

lish soccer is that winning a

championship now requires

near-invincibility. His two ti-

tles came with an unheard-of

two-season total of 198

points from a possible 228.

The problem for City is

that no one seems to have

learned that lesson better

than Liverpool. Liverpool

finished last season with 97

points—the third highest to-

tal in Premier League his-

tory—and finished one point

behind Manchester City in

the standings.

“That’s how it is,” Liver-

pool manager Jürgen Klopp

recently said. “All or noth-

ing.”

T

he Kansas City Chiefs

did something on

Thursday night that

could be considered

both smart and reck-

less. They ran a quarterback sneak

with Patrick Mahomes.

It was an astute decision be-

cause they faced fourth and 1 in

their game against the Denver

Broncos, and quarterback sneaks

are the most effective types of

plays in those situations. Mahomes

smushed forward and successfully

achieved the first down.

It was also, perhaps, imprudent

because Mahomes had been play-

ing on a gimpy ankle for weeks.

And when the crowd after the play

cleared, anybody with knees could

tell Mahomes’s knee didn’t look

normal. It had to be popped back

into place on the field while the

football world held its breath.

“Not too many people get hurt

on a sneak,” Chiefs coach Andy

Reid said afterward. “It’s a freak

thing.”

Mahomes dislocated his right

kneecap in a grisly moment with

broad implications for both his

team and the rest of the NFL. The

exact timeline for his return re-

mains officially unclear, though

early indications, according to

NFL.com, are that he may miss

only a few weeks after fears that

he could miss the entire season.

The Chiefs and backup Matt

Moore, a former Dolphin and Pan-

ther who sat out the entire 2018

season, won the game without Ma-

homes. But even at 5-2, Kansas

City now faces doubts about its

ability to stay afloat while he sits.

The only reason this isn’t an ex-

aggeration: It’s difficult to exag-

gerate Mahomes’s abilities. In his

first season as a starter a year

ago, he won MVP and had one of

the most productive years in NFL

history. He threw for 5,097 yards,

50 touchdowns and took the Chiefs

within overtime of reaching the

Super Bowl.

This year, entering this week’s

game, he was on pace to set the

record for most passing yards in a

season. And he was doing that de-

spite playing on a bum ankle that

had left him hobbling around the

field. Then Mahomes became the

next in a long line of superstar

quarterbacks—Drew Brees, Cam

Newton, Ben Roethlisberger and

more—to go down with a signifi-

cant injury and alter the landscape

of this NFL season.

Some of these teams have been

able to thrive in their stars’ ab-

sences. Kyle Allen has gone unde-

feated leading the Panthers with

Newton out. Same goes for the

Saints and Teddy Bridgewater.

Even the Colts are 3-2 with Jacoby

Brissett after Andrew Luck’s re-

tirement.

The question for the Chiefs: Is

there any reasonable world where

they can expect to do the same?

Even before Mahomes’s injury,

Kansas City had hit a rough patch.

Before Thursday night’s win, the

Chiefs had lost two straight. Their

run defense has been notably po-

rous, and it was becoming clear

that they were far from indomita-

ble even with the best player in

football.

Kansas City has two hopes. The

first is that Mahomes returns as

quickly as possible. The other is

that Reid—an offensive wizard

who designed an offense to suit

Mahomes’s uncanny talents—can

make do with Moore, a 35-year-old

who was unemployed last year.

Moore was able to acquit himself

adequately on Thursday, but then

again he was going up against the

Broncos, who are 2-5.

While a number of teams have

shown this year they can thrive

without their most important

player, there’s reason to doubt that

the Chiefs are one of them. Some

had proven backups. Others had

talented young players waiting in

the wings. Moore was returning to

his former high school to become

an assistant coach until the Chiefs

called in August.

Which is why it isn’t crazy to

imagine Kansas City looking to do

something bold in the interim.

Even if Mahomes misses only

three games, the presumed best-

case scenario, three losses could

send the Chiefs to 5-5 and scram-

bling just to make the playoffs.

A quick glance around the

league yields some intriguing op-

tions. The Dolphins re-annointed

Ryan Fitzpatrick as their starter

this week, but their eyes are set

on the future and the 36-year-old

gunslinger could be a surprisingly

good fit in Reid’s offense that em-

phasizes downfield passing. Or the

Chiefs could look to poach Marcus

Mariota from the Titans, who took

him with the No. 2 pick in the

2015 draft but have now benched

him in favor of Ryan Tannehill.

The injury also has the potential

to change the complexion of the

playoff race for every other team

in the AFC.

There had been one consensus

threat to the Patriots this year in-

side the conference. That was the

Chiefs, and that was because they

had Mahomes. Last year, the

Chiefs took the eventual Super

Bowl champions to the brink in

the AFC Championship, and the

Patriots won because Mahomes

never got to touch the ball when it

Mahomes Injury Alters

Landscape of the NFL

When the Chiefs star emerged last season, it changed the entire league. His absence could, too.

Weather

Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.

City Hi LoW Hi LoW City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W

Today Tomorrow Today Tomorrow

City Hi LoW Hi LoW

Anchorage 44 36 c 44 36 pc

Atlanta 58 54 r 76 58 pc

Austin 91 67 pc 93 67 pc

Baltimore 66 50 s 60 46 r

Boise 54 36 sh 53 39 pc

Boston 60 40 s 61 48 pc

Burlington 52 33 s 58 38 pc

Charlotte 64 52 r 74 56 pc

Chicago 64 48 pc 64 52 pc

Cleveland 67 48 s 71 52 s

Dallas 84 56 s 89 57 s

Denver 66 36 s 54 29 pc

Detroit 62 47 pc 68 52 s

Honolulu 86 75 pc 87 76 sh

Houston 8871pc 8875pc

Indianapolis 70 48 pc 72 54 s

Kansas City 65 43 r 68 46 pc

Las Vegas 81 57 s 75 53 s

Little Rock 74 56 pc 79 64 pc

Los Angeles 82 61 s 86 66 s

Miami 88 80 pc 90 79 t

Milwaukee 62 46 r 59 51 pc

Minneapolis 65 41 pc 64 47 c

Nashville 71 56 pc 78 62 pc

New Orleans 83 67 pc 87 74 pc

New York City 60 48 s 61 52 r

Oklahoma City 73 47 pc 81 47 s

Omaha 69 46 s 64 46 c

Orlando 84 73 r 88 68 pc

Philadelphia 64 50 s 59 47 r

Phoenix 86 57 s 87 56 s

Pittsburgh 63 46 s 67 46 pc

Portland, Maine 57 35 s 56 41 pc

Portland, Ore. 58 47 r 57 51 r

Sacramento 76 49 pc 78 52 pc

St. Louis 69 51 pc 70 58 pc

Salt Lake City 58 36 sh 49 38 pc

San Francisco 68 53 pc 70 55 pc

Santa Fe 65 34 s 59 21 pc

Seattle 56 47 r 55 51 r

Sioux Falls 66 43 s 62 45 r

Wash., D.C. 67 54 s 63 49 r

Amsterdam 58 48 sh 58 49 r

Athens 77 64 s 78 63 s

Baghdad 97 68 s 93 70 s

Bangkok 92 78 pc 93 78 pc

Beijing 69 47 s 73 42 s

Berlin 58 50 sh 65 52 r

Brussels 58 48 sh 54 50 r

Buenos Aires 69 55 pc 62 56 pc

Dubai 97 77 s 96 80 s

Dublin 53 40 c 52 38 s

Edinburgh 50 39 sh 50 34 c

Frankfurt 60 54 sh 65 55 c

Geneva 61 51 r 67 52 r

Havana 90 73 pc 90 71 pc

Hong Kong 86 75 s 86 74 s

Istanbul 71 58 pc 71 60 s

Jakarta 93 77 pc 95 77 pc

Jerusalem 76 63 s 76 62 s

Johannesburg 89 62 pc 91 65 s

London 60 43 pc 55 47 pc

Madrid 66 49 pc 59 41 t

Manila 93 79 c 93 79 pc

Melbourne 58 47 pc 62 48 c

Mexico City 72 56 t 75 57 t

Milan 64 59 r 67 61 t

Moscow 58 51 c 61 50 c

Mumbai 89 78 t 85 78 t

Paris 59 51 sh 55 48 r

Rio de Janeiro 83 71 pc 76 69 pc

Riyadh 95 73 s 96 73 s

Rome 73 58 pc 75 60 pc

San Juan 89 78 t 88 79 pc

Seoul 72 49 s 72 50 s

Shanghai 75 57 pc 75 61 pc

Singapore 88 76 c 87 78 t

Sydney 81 52 s 68 54 s

Taipei City 78 71 pc 77 71 c

Tokyo 72 66 r 72 63 c

Toronto 5444pc 6144s

Vancouver 52 44 r 52 46 r

Warsaw 6551pc 6952s

Zurich 62 47 pc 70 51 c

Today Tomorrow

U.S. Forecasts

International

City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W

s...sunny; pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...showers;

t...t’storms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice

Today Tomorrow

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Milwaukee Hartford

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London

THE LAST TIMEManches-

ter City slipped this far back

in a Premier League title

race, Pep Guardiola was still

wearing ties.

To appreciate how long

ago that was, you only need

to look as far as his sartorial

experiments since then. In

the intervening three years,

Guardiola has had enough

time on the Man City side-

line to evolve from suits to

oversize snoods, to cargo

pants, and, for a while, to an

oversize cardigan-slash-

parka that cost $1,500.

Those were his uniforms as

he won back-to-back Premier

League titles.

But back in his tie-and-

jacket days, the 2016-17 cam-

paign, Guardiola was still

figuring out English soccer.

It was his first year in the

country and within half a

season, his City side was at

least eight points behind the

leaders.

He was not supposed to

be in that spot again now.

After just eight games this

season, Guardiola, currently

in a baggy sweater phase,

has already watched City

lose twice. He has allowed

an eight-point gap to grow

between his team and

league-leading Liverpool.

And to fix it, Guardiola has

nowhere to look—the most

expensively assembled squad

in soccer history is riddled

with injuries. All of a sud-

den, Manchester City’s title

Man City’s Title Hopes Slip Away

BYJOSHUAROBINSON

BYANDREWBEATON

mattered most: New England got

the ball to start overtime and

scored a touchdown, ending the

game before he got a chance.

They no longer have Mahomes,

and they’re now just a team with a

journeyman quarterback, a ques-

tionable defense and an innovative

head coach who has to try to make

it all work.

Suddenly, one playoff spot that

was all but guaranteed to go to

Kansas City may be up for grabs

as a result. Once ridiculous no-

tions like the division-rival Raiders

making the playoffs—they’re 3-2—

suddenly aren’t completely fantas-

tical. Another unlikely beneficiary

could be the 4-2 Texans, who beat

Kansas City, scored 84 combined

points in their last two games and

could have the inside track at one

of the conference’s coveted byes. It

could even tilt the NFC playoff pic-

ture, with Kansas City set to play

the Packers and Vikings in the

coming weeks.

When Mahomes broke out last

year, it changed the entire league.

His absence could, too.

Patrick Mahomes, above, dislocated

his right kneecap on Thursday. Andy

Reid, left, will have to rework his

offense for backup Matt Moore.

NIGEL FRENCH/ZUMA PRESS

Pep Guardiola’s squad is already eight points behind Liverpool.

DUSTIN BRADFORD/GETTY IMAGES, TAMMY LJUNGBLAD/ZUMA PRESS

SPORTS