Minshew mania returns: Former WSU QB back in the spotlight in place of injured Mahomes

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Go ahead, laugh at Gardner Minshew.

Laugh at his mustache and long hair. Deride him for having the thankless job of starting at quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs in the shadow of injured legend, Patrick Mahomes.

The former Washington State quarterback with the strong arm and the mustache that launched a fashion craze from Pullman to Spokane in 2018 isn’t laughing.

Neither are his coaches and teammates on the Chiefs, who although may be out of playoff contention for the first time in 11 years, have pride to play for as they enter their last three games. The Chiefs (6-8) travel to Nashville to play the struggling Tennessee Titans (2-14) at 10 a.m. in Nissan Stadium.

Make no mistake about it. There’s still pride left in a team that won nine straight AFC titles before a 16-13 loss to the Houston Texans last week, ending a playoff run that began in 2014 and brought home three Lombardi trophies the past five years. The loss to Houston ended with Mahomes falling late in the game with a knee injury that will sideline him, possibly into next season.

Minshew feels the weight.

“It’s an opportunity to step in and do my job, being there’s a lot of guys that have put a ton of work into this and I owe it to them,” Minshew told reporters this past week. “I owe it to this coaching staff, this team fan base to go out and do my best to give us the best chance to win.”

This is, after all, home of the Chiefs Kingdom, a fan base that stayed faithful to its team for 50 years between Super Bowl victories and have painted this town red during what’s become known reverently as the Mahomes era.

Andy Reid, out of the playoffs for the first time since taking over the Chiefs in 2014, isn’t planning a long winter’s nap.

“Every game you go into, if it’s Yahtzee, you want to win,” said Reid during a news conference Thursday. “We’re in America, here, and that’s what we do.”

Travis Kelce, the future Hall of Fame tight end and the NFL’s all-time leader in consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, agreed with Reid.

“It’s about the integrity of who you are as a player and as a professional,” Kelce said this week on the New Heights podcast he hosts with brother Jason.

Kelce started with the Chiefs in 2014 and does not know what it’s like to not make the playoffs with the team. There’s been speculation about whether he might retire at the end of the season, but he’s yet made no such announcements. He said he’s ready to play out this season.

“It’s the Chiefs foundation – we’re going to give you everything we’ve got,” Kelce added. “There’s only one way I do things. There’s only one way Coach Reid does it. … You know Gardner is going to do that. It’s just how he’s built. We’re going to go out and fight for him from here on out and go into this and try to win some ballgames with my guy G.”

“G” Minshew knows what it’s like to beat the odds.

The Brandon, Mississippi, product was ready to play out his college ball as a backup at Alabama and then become a coach.

But Washington State head coach Mike Leach called in the spring of 2018. “How would you like to come lead the country in passing yards?’ Leach asked. Minshew packed for Pullman.

Minshew ended the 2018 season as the FBS leader in passing yards per game and total offense, setting a slew of team records.

Go ahead, laugh.

This week, a picture of Minshew mugging with frowns for the camera in a Chiefs uniform appeared on social media, his mustache in full bloom with his flowing shoulder-length locks waiting for a shampoo commercial.

Comments tried to ridicule Minshew, comparing him to Uncle Ricco from the Gen X cult film “Napoleon Dynamite,” 1970s movie hunk Burt Reynolds, and porn star Ron Jeremy.

See, those people are not in on the joke, as are Cougs fans.

That’s a part of the charisma, you see, a look that was all the rage across the Palouse during Minshew’s senior year at Washington State.

“Hundreds of thousands of Cougar fans – young and old, male and female – participated in the movement, wearing replica stick-on staches to home games this season,” wrote Theo Lawson for the Spokesman Review on Dec. 27, 2018.

Gardner Minshew became one of the most popular Halloween costumes that year.

“And the mustache was plastered on homemade signs when WSU hosted ESPN’s College GameDay show earlier this season, then made a second cameo on national television when the QB taped a stick-on stache to his coach’s lip during a postgame interview in Boulder, Colorado,” Lawson wrote.

Minshew won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy race that year. He then achieved his second-grade dream of becoming a professional football player, when Jacksonville took him in the sixth round with the 178th pick of the NFL draft.

Some might have been disappointed at that. Not Minshew.

“No, man,” Minshew told reporters following the draft. “When I was a little kid, if you’d told me I was getting picked in the NFL draft, I don’t care if it’s the first pick or the last pick. I’m getting picked. That’s such a blessing.”

Minshew made the Pro Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts. He played a backup role for the Philadelphia Eagles and started nine games for the Raiders last season before suffering a broken collar bone in the 11th week.

Becoming and staying a starting quarterback in the NFL is one tough job. Ask Marcus Mariota, who won the Heisman with Oregon, and just gained a starting nod this season on the Washington Commanders. Or Mitch Trubisky, picked by the Chicago Bears with the No. 2 pick in 2017, leaving Mahomes to be snapped up by the Chiefs eight picks later. Trubisky is now backing up another superstar QB1: Josh Allen in Buffalo.

Minshew, however, comes to the forefront in a year of backup success.

Mack Jones stepped in to lead the San Francisco 49ers to three straight victories when Brock Purdy was injured. Mariota was named as starter for the Commanders final three games after Jayden Daniels went down with an elbow injury.

No one has played the backup role better than Earl Morrall. Morrall was a backup to Unitas (the same as the Golden Arm Award) when the Colts were in Baltimore. Morrall led the Colts to the 1968 Super Bowl, where he lost to Joe Namath and the New York Jets. Four years later, Morrall sat on the bench in Miami behind the great Bob Griese, who went down to injury. Morrall won nine games and preserved the Dolphins perfect season, the last undefeated team in the NFL.

These next three weeks could also decide if Minshew gets to continue living his dream in the NFL. He becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Last year, Reid saw something in Las Vegas that made the coach roll the dice and bring Minshew to Kansas City on a one-year deal.

“I’ve got a ton of confidence in Gardner,” Reid said. “So I mean I’ve watched him play with these other teams, he’s started in the league, our guys have confidence in him.

Minshew, meanwhile, has someone else in his corner, getting text messages from Mahomes since his knee surgery in Dallas.

“That dude still wants us to win,” Minshew said. “That’s what he cares about and it’s awesome to have a leader like that, helping you prepare in any way … I think he’ll be back around towards the end of the week, and we’ll all be ready to go.”

Gardner Minshew just might have the last laugh.