Chiefs Impress In First 3 Weeks, Questions Remain
The 2026 has been a breath of fresh air so far for Chiefs fans -- is it sustainable?
It was a warm sunny day in Miami Gardens, Florida, where the Chiefs -- coming off of a Sunday night win over the Colts a week prior -- were set to face the 0-2 Miami Dolphins. This Chiefs season has been something of a revelation; leaning on the run game which is historically opposite from the philosophy of “Big Red” Andy Reid in the Patrick Mahomes era. Over the last couple of seasons defenses have figured the Chiefs out, making it harder for Mahomes to move the ball down field -- and with him coming off of a major knee injury last season many people had written off the Chiefs offense. Then comes the off-season acquisition Kenneth Walker III, who has been absolutely game changing on the ground the first two weeks of the season where he’s been averaging 28 touches. With the creative play calling duo of Reid & Beinemy back together; there was some question as to whether that heavy load for Walker III would continue.
The first drive against the Dolphins was immaculate. We get started on a play action to Walker which set up Travis Kelce for a 48 yard bomb down the middle of the field. The four play drive, which brings us back to the importance of the abundance of carries in the weeks prior, was capped off with a Walker III rushing touchdown. The newfound Chiefs running game this season has created an element of unpredictability. I’m still very concerned about the ability of KC receivers to create separation, in short to intermediate passing plays, but having this effective of a run game gives us another way to attack defenses that has opened up some of those lanes.
Tyquan Thornton emerged as a pretty reliable deep threat for Mahomes in the game against the Colts last week. Against the Dolphins he only had two receptions, but had a big 17 yard grab. The hope is for Thornton to get more opportunities down field and other guys like Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy to find ways to get open down the field consistently. Continuing to spread the ball going forward will be key as this Chiefs offense appears most dangerous when targeting a bevy of receivers.
Defensively, the big concern in the off-season was the loss of key secondary players: Trent McDuffie, Jalen Watson, and Brian Cook. This year they added talent in the form of Mansour Delane, who despite battling a shoulder injury since offseason OTA’s, has played formidably. My concern though is an emerging liability that is L’Jarius Sneed. In the first two games of the season, he was targeted 20 times which resulted in 16 receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown. Opposing offenses definitely see a matchup that they can win against Sneed so I was interested in seeing how that played out in Miami -- one of the worst passing offenses in the league. The results were a positive sign that he might be getting more comfortable with his role in his first year back with his old team. Receivers that he covered weren’t targeted once yesterday. Despite some early shortcomings in the 7th year of his career, One thing that was never in doubt with Sneed is his ability to make big plays no matter how a game is going. He stole all momentum from the Dolphins by forcing and recovering a fumble from Malik Willis giving us the push to regain control of the game and come out with a 24-10 win.
The Chiefs are off to a great 3-0 start behind a running game we haven’t had since Jamaal Charles and a Patrick Mahomes that appears back to his pre-injury self. There’s a few things here and there to be concerned about but most of those can be attributed to rust and a defense that has to build and accumulate chemistry as the season goes along. I will say that, outside of Denver who was still needing to figure things out in week one, the Chiefs have had a pretty easy go of it schedule wise. They’ll continue this trend with games relatively on the easier side in the next two weeks; followed by their first big test against the defending champs; followed by a test of endurance (in more ways than one) at Mile High. We’ll just sit back and see where the season takes us but the future is bright following a year of storm clouds and darkness.