Overview

• Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes' helmet shattered during the AFC wild-card game against the Miami Dolphins, raising questions about the helmet's design and the impact of extreme cold on its performance.
• The game was the fourth-coldest in NFL history, with temperatures at kickoff at minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit, possibly making the helmet's outer shell brittle.
• Helmet manufacturer Certor Sports, which makes the Vicis Zero2 helmet that Mahomes was wearing, stated that the helmet 'did its job' by protecting Mahomes during the impact.
• The NFL has sent the helmet to Biocore, a research lab in Virginia that conducts helmet testing for the NFL, for analysis to understand what caused the break.
• Despite the incident, experts from the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab and the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment suggest that the helmet break should be seen as an isolated incident, not a warning to other players.