Travis Kelce's injury is uncharted territory for Patrick Mahomes - ESPN - Kansas City Chiefs Blog- ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes’ world as a starting quarterback without Travis Kelce consists of one game, a meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers late in the 2021 season when Kelce didn’t play because he was getting over a case of COVID-19.

Mahomes threw three touchdowns to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 36-10 win. But there’s not much Mahomes can apply from that game to his current situation. The Chiefs had Tyreek Hill then. Their leading receiver that day was Byron Pringle.

Neither of those players remain with the team. So Mahomes and the Chiefs are about to head into the unknown in Thursday’s game against the Detroit Lions at Arrowhead Stadium (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC). Kelce won’t play because of a knee injury he suffered in practice during the week.

One of the players who will be asked to help make up for Kelce’s absence, wide receiver Skyy Moore, wasn’t certain what the offense might look like without their longtime tight end.

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“It'll be a little bit different,” Moore said. “Everybody will be able to fill in the gaps. Obviously, that's a Hall of Fame tight end, but we'll be able to do our job and pull across the finish line.”

Mahomes had a great statistical game against the Steelers in 2021 without Kelce, but some of his key numbers are down throughout his career on plays when Kelce hasn’t been on the field.

Mahomes’ career QBR is 79 with Kelce in the game versus 65 without him. His average yards per attempt is 8.2 yards with Kelce, 7.2 without. The average air yards of his passes is 8.0 with Kelce, 6.1 without.