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When Packers-Chiefs came out on the schedule in May, it was the clear highlight of Week Nine.

Finally, Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers would meet somewhere that wasn’t a State Farm commercial. When Kansas City and Green Bay last played in 2019, Mahomes was out due to a knee injury.

But now that matchup will have to wait for another time and place, since Rodgers is out this week after testing positive for COVID-19. And because Rodgers is unvaccinated, there’s no chance he’ll be cleared by Sunday.

Mahomes was asked about not squaring off against Rodgers and said it’s “definitely disappointing.”

“When you get to see an all-time great like him play and I’ve kind of watched his game for a long time, feeling that I play a similar style, you always want to compete against the best,” Mahomes said in his Wednesday press conference. “Hopefully he’s healthy, it’s not too bad, I’m sure he’ll come back from it stronger than he was before.”

Mahomes said he hadn’t reached out to Rodgers before taking the podium, but it seemed like he planned to do so.

“I haven’t got to yet,” Mahomes said. “I heard about it as I was going on to the walk-through on the field. Obviously, it’s disappointing and I hope that he’s healthy and that he can get through it. COVID is a scary deal, and it can kind of get anybody so just praying for him that he can get back to who he is.”

With Rodgers out, Mahomes will compete against Jordan Love in the 2020 first-round pick’s first start.

“I got to watch some games [Love] played in college, obviously, and he was slinging it around the field making a lot of plays happen,” Mahomes said. “[H]e had a great preseason and played really well, so I’m sure he’ll be ready. They have a great offense; he’ll be able to step in and do what he can to have success.”