Patrick Mahomes’ resilient return and Kenneth Walker III’s explosive backfield debut signal a dominant new era in Kansas City, vaulting the revitalized franchise back into championship contention.
If there were any questions about the Kansas City Chiefs going into the 2026 regular season, those got answered after the 31-10 blowout win over the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.
Patrick Mahomes played well in his first game back from a torn ACL. New running back Kenneth Walker III certainly made an impressive debut after signing with the Chiefs this offseason.
And, it sure was refreshing for Kansas City fans to see Eric Bieniemy a the offensive coordinator once again.
There were a lot of questions about the Chiefs, and sure, it's only been one game, but there are a lot of positives from this performance.
Nick Shook of NFL.com had new power rankings after Week 1, and the Chiefs jumped up to No. 10 after being at No. 14 going into the game.
The biggest thing Shook wrote about was the KC rushing attack, which is a breath of fresh air after years of struggling to find a reliable running game.
"For the first time this decade, the Chiefs have a legitimately fearsome rushing attack. Kenneth Walker III won’t run for a career-high total every week, but he brings a punch that Kansas City's backfield has lacked for most of the Patrick Mahomes era. That should make folks respect the Chiefs, even as Mahomes shakes off the rust accumulated by a lengthy recovery from knee surgery," Shook wrote.
Walker had plenty of flashes, and he reminded everyone why he was the Super Bowl MVP just months ago in the Seattle Seahawks win over the new England Patriots.
Here was one of them, which was a 60-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-1 play where Walker outran everybody.
With Mahomes working his way back from a torn ACL and Travis Kelce in the final year of his NFL career, having Walker run like this will certainly pay huge dividends for this offense moving forward.
Apart from the offense, the defense did its job. They held the broncos to 10 points, and new wide receiver Jaylen Waddle struggled in his Broncos debut. Bo Nix also couldn't get anything going, and it might make Sean Payton consider taking back play-calling duties after handing them over to new OC Davis Webb.
It's a long season, and it's only been one game, but this was a massive statement win for the Chiefs to kick off the new year after missing the playoffs in 2025.
