How Does Loss of Tyreek Hill Affect Kansas City’s Super Bowl Chances?

Hill suffered an SC joint dislocation and will "miss a few weeks"

Tyreek Hill was injured against the Jacksonville Jaguars (James Gilbert/Getty)
Tyreek Hill was injured against the Jacksonville Jaguars (James Gilbert/Getty)
Getty Images

The Kansas City Chiefs won convincingly over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, but they also suffered a big loss in their 40-26 win.

Star receiver Tyreek Hill, who just signed a lucrative extension with the team on Friday, left the game in the first half after he landed on his shoulder and was taken to a hospital after the game for treatment. According to ESPN sources, Hill suffered a posterior SC joint (where the collarbone meets the sternum) dislocation and will “miss a few weeks.”

Chiefs head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder explained why a visit to the hospital was needed for Hill.

“Those can be injured coming out the front, up top or in the back,” Burkholder said. “If it goes posteriorly or back it becomes a medical issue for us so that we worry that there’s more problems. His came back posteriorly and he didn’t have any medical issues, but we still transported him to Baptist Medical Center and we turned his care over to Brett Frykberg, who is an ortho-trauma physician.”

Hill, who has 25 touchdown catches in three seasons in the NFL, is an explosive playmaker and will be sorely missed for the Chiefs. Luckily for Kansas City, they also have Sammy Watkins on their roster, and he stepped up in Hill’s absence on Sunday to the tune of a career-high 198 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

The question is, can Watkins, who has never played a full season outside of his rookie year and missed six games last season due to injury, continue to fill Hill’s cleats going forward?

Las Vegas seems to think he at least has a shot to do so, as the Chiefs are 9.5-point favorites over the Raiders next week despite the game being in Oakland. The Chiefs are also one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl at +500, trailing only the Patriots (+280). The Eagles (+1000), Rams (+1200+ and Saints (+1200) have the next-best odds to win it all.

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