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The Kansas City Chiefs won a divisional round playoff game. They are going back to the AFC championship game. There won't be a lot of celebration.

Part of the reason is the Chiefs are used to advancing to the NFL's final four. It's their fifth straight trip to the AFC championship game. But mostly it's because all anyone in Kansas City will be talking about for eight days is Patrick Mahomes' ankle.

Mahomes suffered what was reported to be a high ankle sprain in Saturday's 27-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, an injury that often takes weeks to heal. Mahomes missed one series and did come back in to play. But everyone saw Mahomes hobbling around on a bad ankle, even hopping off the field in pain after a huge touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Kansas City might have blown out the Jaguars with a healthy Mahomes for four quarters, but with Mahomes struggling to throw accurately off his injured plant ankle, Jacksonville was in the game until late.

Mahomes is the NFL MVP and best quarterback in the game, and even if he's 75 percent he's better than just about everyone else in the league. That's why he was in during the second half despite the injury. And the Chiefs' decision was rewarded when Mahomes came up with a big drive, capped by a touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, after the Jaguars cut the Chiefs' lead to 20-17 in the fourth quarter. It was an impressive moment.

But next Sunday night the Chiefs are going to face either Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals or Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, two of the few quarterbacks who are close to Mahomes' class. "I'll be good to go," Mahomes told NBC on Saturday about starting the AFC championship game. But there will be some concern over how effective he'll be.

Patrick Mahomes injured early

The Chiefs are built differently than just about everyone else. That's because there's only one Mahomes to go around.

Kansas City is average on defense and aside from they have a thin group of skill-position players. It doesn't matter. Mahomes and coach Andy Reid are two all-time greats, and they cover everything up. We saw that early in the Jaguars game, when he made a few breathtaking plays in the first quarter, including a , on the way to giving the Chiefs an early 7-0 lead.

Mahomes was brought down by Jaguars linebacker , with Key landing on Mahomes' right ankle. Mahomes limped around for a while before the Chiefs sent him back to the locker room for X-rays.

There was a key moment in the game when Mahomes was back in the locker room. The Jaguars downed a punt at the 2-yard line. entered the game. The Jaguars had a chance to get the Chiefs off the field and get good field position in a 10-7 game. Instead, , capped by a Travis Kelce touchdown catch.

The Jaguars got a touchdown pass early to to tie the game 7-7 but Lawrence didn't do much else through three quarters. Kansas City kicked a field goal late in the third quarter and led 20-10.

The Jaguars answered back. Jacksonville had its best drive since the first quarter and scored a 4-yard touchdown to cut the Chiefs' lead to 20-17.

The Jaguars had a small chance after that when they drove inside the Chiefs' 10-yard line, but fumbled after a catch inside the 5. The Chiefs recovered with 5:29 to go and that practically put the game away. When the Jaguars got the ball back, Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson picked off a forced pass by Lawrence.

The clock hit 0:00 in the team's 27-20 playoff loss to the Chiefs and unlike the last six weeks, the Jaguars aren't moving on to the next game. Instead, the team will get ready for the offseason and prepare for next year, hoping to get back to the playoffs for the second year in a row.

For Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Saturday night was an opportunity to say thank you to fans and the City of Jacksonville for what they did to support the team in 2022.

"A lot of ups and downs this season. It was a special year for us, for the city, for everybody. We couldn’t have done it without all of you guys supporting us," Lawrence said after the game Saturday.

"We’re thankful for you guys. Those last two home games were games that I’ll never forget. Just excited for that to be the atmosphere and the future for our team. I’m really excited. It’s hard to even think about next year right now because this loss is fresh. We’re going to be back, this is the new standard. We set that, this is the bar and we’ll be back.”

The Jaguars played in front of sold-out crowds in Jacksonville over the last two weeks in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs and, what amounted to, a playoff regular-season bout against the Tennessee Titans in Week 18.

Jacksonville's special season comes a year after one of the worst seasons in franchise history, a 3-14 year as the worst team in the league. This year, Jacksonville became one of four teams in the AFC still alive, something many people did not expect to happen.

Much of that wouldn't be possible without Lawrence, who was selected with the first-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Without him, the team wouldn't have gotten to where it needed to this year.

"I have said this before that the success of your football team relies on the quarterback. You have to get that piece and that player right. I feel personally in Jacksonville that we have that person right," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said after the game Saturday.

"He is just going to get better. He is going to learn from this. He is going to grow with the receivers, tight ends, the backs because they are all young."

After the game, Lawrence showcased his leadership by waiting in the tunnel to support his teammates.

“It goes to show the guy he already is and has been," receiver Christian Kirk said of Lawrence. "He is the ultimate leader, ultimate battler. He is a guy who loves his teammates and is going to go out there and leave it all on the field.”

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @Demetrius82.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As this season got underway, I spent a fair amount of time talking about Doug Pederson’s approach and how he coached compared to Urban Meyer. Some viewers questioned why I was spending so much time focusing on Meyer. The fact is that the change was so dramatic, even before the results started to come, that you could tell that things were changing. So I reported on it.

Then, when the Jaguars won games against the Colts and Chargers in the first quarter of the season, it appeared that the change had happened in a hurry and that the Jaguars were responding. Then, October arrived. Five straight losses.

We know what happened next. We can talk about the progress made by Trevor Lawrence or the impact of a healthy Travis Etienne, or Rayshawn Jenkins having a career year with regard to impact plays or half a dozen other factors that came from player performance.

The fact is that it was Pederson’s steady presence that allowed that to happen. The Jaguars were better than a three-win team last year, talent-wise. And they were better this year. I think that underlines the impact a head coach can have on the tone and culture of a team. Pederson hit all the right notes.

Now let’s take a look ahead.

Let’s talk about free agency first.

Here are the Jaguars players who become unrestricted free agents now:

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Engram and Key are the top two targets to keep here as far as I’m concerned. Smoot will depend on how he recovers from his Achilles injury. Will Marvin Jones be happy with Calvin Ridley being brought in? Taylor had a good year, but will the Jaguars be willing to spend money on him when they have Walker Little ready to step in, still on a rookie contract? Finally, how much do the Jaguars value the blocking of Manhertz? Are they willing to spend to keep him?

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The salary cap is expected to be over $220 million next season, up from $208 million this year. Before the cap goes up, the Jaguars are about $20 million over the cap for next season. With the expected increase, let’s assume that’s more like $12 million. They can make some more room by restructuring some existing contracts. Josh Allen for instance. Maybe Roy Robertson-Harris.

I suspect that we’ve seen the last of Shaq Griffin in a Jaguars uniform. The Jaguars can save around $13.5 million under the cap if they cut him free. Cutting K’Lavon Chaisson would save another $2.4 million.

At some point in the next year or two, the Jaguars will give Trevor Lawrence a big contract that should help free up some cap space based on the way the deal will be structured, but it’s always advantageous for a contending team with a quarterback on his rookie deal. That’s where the Jaguars are right now.

Unlike last year and the year before that and most years in recent memory, the Jaguars aren’t picking near the top of the draft. The Jags won’t make a pick until number 24 in the first round.

If they can add a few pieces in free agency, they can simply take the best player, regardless of position.

So here are the five areas I believe the Jaguars need to look to improve in free agency:

Finally, we can expect some of this year’s rookie class to show improvement. I want to say all, but it rarely happens. If Travon Walker can take a step forward as a pass rusher and linebackers Devin Lloyd and Chad Muma and center Luke Fortner are better next season than they were as rookies, the Jaguars will be in good shape to do more than simply compete. They can challenge for the AFC championship.

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Not all of the action from Saturday’s divisional-round showdown between the Chiefs and Jaguars took place on the field.

As the Chiefs punched their ticket to next week’s AFC Championship game with a 27-20 win over the Jaguars, a Kansas City supporter backed her team — and love of baked potatoes — against a bitter Jacksonville fan.

“KC fan eating a Baked potato out of her pocket,” a Jaguars supporter tweeted over the weekend, adding “throwing up” emojis alongside a snap of the Chiefs fan in question, who took in the excitement from Arrowhead Stadium.

The apparent roast from the Jaguars fan was short-lived, however, as the Chiefs supporter — who goes by “KC Potato Girl” — gave the Jacksonville backer a taste of their own medicine.

“I caught you taking my photo as well. But I enjoyed a baked potato and a win. How about you?” the Kansas City supporter tweeted.

With their back against the wall, the Jaguars fan responded the only way they could.

“Guess we’re even,” the fan replied, adding a collection of crying and laughing-face emojis and of course, potato emojis.

“KC Potato Girl” and the rest of Chiefs kingdom are likely breathing a sigh of relief following Saturday’s win, which happened to include an injury scare involving starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes. An MRI revealed Sunday that Mahomes suffered a high-ankle sprain against the Jaguars.

With an AFC Championship rematch against the Bengals looming, Mahomes said he plans to be “as close to 100 percent by next week.”

“It feels better than I thought it was going to be now,” Mahomes said, according to ESPN. “Obviously, I have a lot of adrenaline going right now, so we’ll see how it feels. But I’ll hop right in the treatment and try to do whatever I can to be as close to 100 percent by next week. Luckily for us, we played the early game on Saturday, so we get an extra almost half a day that I can let that ankle rest.”

Perhaps “KC Potato Girl” will make a return trip to Arrowhead for Sunday’s highly anticipated matchup with her favorite snack ready to go.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The San Jose Athletic Association Board is not pressing charges against two teens who were caught on camera vandalizing a clubhouse in Baker Skinner Park.

News4JAX obtained a video Tuesday that appeared to show two young teens using golf clubs to vandalize the clubhouse, causing damage to a wall, security lights, security cameras and a gas grill -- which happened just two weeks before the start of baseball season.

Immediately, parents and coaches started an outpour of frustration after seeing the video.

Nathan Groff, baseball coach and Association board member, told New4JAX the reason board members choose not to press charges is because they didn’t want to ruin the teens’ lives.

The teens’ parents identified them after the video started to circulate among parents and coaches.

“Two different gentlemen reached out to the park and association and indicated and believed it was their sons on the video,” Groff said.

The men also told Groff that the teens admitted to what they did and that they were extremely apologetic -- especially since the fathers believed the boys didn’t have a real reason for causing the damage.

“From what they told us, they were up there. They were bored. They just decided it would be fun if they smashed a few things,” Groff said.

Groff also said the parents agreed to pay for the damages, which led the association to drop the idea of pressing charges.

“We didn’t feel like prosecuting two young men that obviously felt sorry for what they did. We’re compensating the part for the damage that could impact the rest of their life for some thoughtless act would not be appropriate,” Groff said.

Groff said the teens have volunteered to return to the park and help out on the next clean-up day, which includes picking up trash, cleaning up weeds and general maintenance.

“Hopefully they go on and tell other kids to maybe think about doing that and explain to them that it’s not worth it and to do other constructive things instead of destructive things,” Groff said.