VICIS, the manufacturer of the football helmet preferred by Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, stands by the equipment's performance during Saturday night's arctic conditions at Arrowhead Stadium during an NFL Wildcard game.
This, despite the fact the helmet cracked open to reveal a half-dollar-sized hole above Mahomes' while he was tackled during the Chiefs' victory over the Miami Dolphins.
"While outer shell damage is not ideal, the ZERO2 helmet did its job of protecting Patrick Mahomes during a head-to-head impact during unprecedented cold temperatures,'' VICIS said in a statement released on X, as reported by ESPN. "The exclusive multi-layer technology employed in the VICIS ZERO2 helmet model utilizes a deformable outer shell, RFLX impact absorption layer, followed by a stiff inner shell. This design approach is similar to the crumple zone of modern cars, effectively absorbing and dispersing impact forces at the point of contact.
"Extreme conditions like those experienced in Saturday evening's NFL playoff game are bound to test the limits of even the highest performing products."
The temperature at kickoff was minus 4, according to ESPN's Adam Teicher.
"I'm sure it had to do with it being really cold,'' Mahomes said. "I didn't know what happened in the moment, but I got in the huddle and everybody was telling me.
"It was a first for me."
Mahomes was given a replacement helmet, and needed to work with equipment managers on the sideline to get the headgear to fit properly.
"We have to talk about where we store the backup because it was frozen, so when I tried to put it on ... I couldn't get it on,'' Mahomes said. "It didn't look great. We were able to adjust it on the sideline, get it kind of warmed up a bit and get rolling from there."
