Wins in the NFL come in various sorts of packaging. You can have beautiful double-digit wins like the Chiefs had in Week 1 against the Denver Broncos, and you can have less-than-compelling, down-to-the-wire affairs like Kansas City had in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts. No matter the road travelled to get to it or the sentiment following the team's most recent contest, Kansas City is 2-0, which is, factually speaking, the best possible outcome after two games.
Was it pretty on Sunday night against the Daniel Jones-led Colts? At times, yes, and at times, absolutely not. Sunday night's game was one of the rare viewing experiences where, within a 4-hour window, you had feelings of agony, bliss, unadulterated annoyance, optimism that has no ceiling, rage, nostalgia, and confusion all for the same team during the same game. Now, as Chiefs fans, we have all been here before—numerous times. But this was the first taste of the 2026 Chiefs really putting us through it.
Again, the important part is that Kansas City sits at 2-0 atop the AFC West and can hang its hat on a couple of things offensively. The Chiefs are third in the NFL in scoring, and Kenneth Walker leads the league in rushing. Patrick Mahomes' big game puts him in the top 5 in passing early in the season, and Travis Kelce is, while it's early, on pace for another 1,000-yard, 10-TD season. But in a true embodiment of the juxtaposition of emotions that the team made us feel last night, the defense is either a unit of stone-cold killers that will shut down an AFC finalist from a year ago or a team that will allow 30 points to an offense with the human version of a cross-eyed, dopey basset hound (Daniel Jones) at the helm.
Here are our weekly overreactions as the Chiefs look ahead to Week 3.
1. The Chiefs offense is going to be unstoppable by mid-season
Mahomes may have started the season slowly in the first half against the Broncos, but my, how things have changed—and quickly. Through the first two weeks of the season, the Chiefs have rattled off 64 points (good for 3rd in the NFL, as mentioned above) and have moved the ball down the field in almost every imaginable way. Against Denver and early in the second half against the Colts, they dialed in a smash-mouth rushing attack spearheaded by Walker and complemented by a shifty Emmett Johnson. Sunday brought chunk plays to Tyquan Thornton that were accompanied by gashes over the middle of the field to Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice. Even Xavier Worthy, who we will get to in a minute, contributed.
Offensively, the Chiefs are already operating like a well-oiled machine. And you know what? They're way ahead of schedule in that regard, which should be terrifying for the rest of the NFL. We caught a glimpse of what the young defense can do in Week 1 against Denver, and if this offense continues to progress and improve from where it started the season, we could very well be witnessing the beginning of an absolutely historic revenge tour from Kansas City.
Mahomes, just nine months removed from reconstructive knee surgery, is a top-5 passer in the NFL while he's shaking off rust. Kenneth Walker is the league's leading rusher. Kelce has turned back the clock six years, it would appear, and the receivers will continue to gel. Who knows, maybe a reunion with a certain former Chief is in store for later on this fall? We've seen a ton of good football in the Mahomes era in Kansas City, but with the start these guys have had, this could be the best yet.
2. This season for Dave Toub feels a lot like 2025 felt for Matt Nagy
It didn't take long for us to realize that former Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was in the midst of a lame-duck campaign in 2025. It was evident that the message had grown stale with the Chiefs offense and that it was time for a break. Enter Eric Bieniemy and some electric talent, and we're in an entirely different stratosphere this season. All's well that ends well, right?
Well, maybe not for special teams coordinator Dave Toub. Toub's units have been subject to much outside scrutiny over the course of the last couple of seasons, mostly hyperbolic, but there is, without question, fire accompanying this smoke. The Chiefs have been in the bottom 10 (9th worst in 2024 and 7th worst in 2025) in special teams penalties the last two seasons and are second worst only to the absolute dumpster fire that is the Atlanta Falcons so far in 2026.
I've always classified myself as more of a "finger in the wind" feel type of guy as opposed to a real advanced-metrics guru, so I have no clue, nor do I have the Google or AI discipline, to find the Chiefs opponents' average starting field position on kickoffs for this season. Having said that, it's been objectively bad, just with the eye test. Toub's units seem to have issues covering kicks with the new kickoff rules, and some of the decisions made by his specialists (looking at you, Nikko) beg the question: Are these guys even being coached up?
We'll see what 2027 brings for the Chiefs' special teams unit. Andy Reid is obviously very close with Toub, so that high-level loyalty could play a role in the decision-making. I also don't know what STC candidates are out there or who is even good at it, so there's that. All I know is that it feels like the right time to make a move at that position.
3. The Chiefs lead the league in DOGs
I don't care how consistently excellent some of these guys are. The Chiefs have a ton of absolute DOGS on the roster this season, and at one point or another during Sunday's game, they all showed out. Dog mentality is a well-documented mindset not discovered by, but initially made famous by, formerCoastal Carolina head coach David Bennett. It's simply not enough to mention that these guys "have dog in them"—they are purebred dogs when they get the opportunity.
Patrick Mahomes—DOG. Travis Kelce—DOG. Chris Jones—DOG! Drue Tranquill, Kenneth Walker, Emmett Johnson, L'Jarius Sneed, Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, Kahlil Benson, Ashton Gillotte, Peter Woods, Nick Bolton, Nohl Williams...you guessed it, all DOGS.
These guys will continue to pin their ears back and make life hell for opponents. Having a team of dogs as opposed to a bunch of cats that are going to passively flaunt their talent, worried more about their pregame outfit than actually stealing someone's soul on the field, is a good thing. K.C.'s roster is full of dogs, and that will continue to bode well for the Chiefs even if some have to visit the vet at some point in the season.
4. The Xavier Worthy experiment is nearing its end
Don't get me wrong, Worthy has had flashes of excellence. There have been moments where it's felt like he is an offensive weapon that we've never quite seen the likes of in a Chiefs uniform. His straight-line speed is impressive, and when used in the right gadgety scenarios, he can be an effective offensive tool.
But Worthy is not a first-round wideout. He is not a top-2 receiving option in the NFL. His lateral quickness is lacking for someone who runs in the 4.2s in a 40-yard dash, and his route-running abilities appear to have topped out at subpar. We've seen confusion over and over with him on routes down the field where it appears he and Mahomes aren't on the same page. Call me crazy, but I would lean toward the issue being Worthy and not a two-time league MVP and three-time Super Bowl MVP.
I feel bad even writing this because Worthy's heart is clearly in this. He was back early this offseason working with Mahomes and trying to get himself in a position to finally break through as a primetime talent in this league. I just don't think he has it. He's too slight of frame to break tackles, and without lateral quickness, what use is he in a lateral-moving role if he can't get open downfield?
I, personally, am thinking this experiment is over and would consider him a good piece to utilize in trade talks if the team needs to go that route later in the season. Some would disagree, and I hope they're right. An effective Xavier Worthy in this Chiefs offense would be a lot more fun to watch than what we've seen thus far, even if he did score on Sunday night.
5. Spags is playing chess, but we think we're watching checkers
I've been watching this version of the Chiefs long enough to know when I'm getting fooled. Do I realize it in the moment? Absolutely not. But when I stop to think about it, I realize (or develop an elaborate cope-heavy theory about) why I am seeing what I am seeing.
For instance, the Chiefs' Week 2 defensive performance. What a joke, right? Wrong. Visual evidence would lead us to believe that the Chiefs took a step backward on Sunday as opposed to their thorough mud-hole stomping of Denver in Week 1. The Broncos couldn't get an inch of space to breathe against the Chiefs' secondary, the pass rush was in Bo Nix's face all night, and Denver put up 10 points. Losers. Conversely, Daniel Jones led the Colts up and down the field like a happy basset hound frolicking through a grassy field, and Jonathan Taylor got whatever he wanted in the running game. Bad Spags, bad!
This is where our naivety gets the best of us as fans. Early in the first half, I told a friend, "They've got our base look figured out. We're going to have to cook up some wild blitzes to get pressure and blow this up." While Spagnuolo did dial up some exotic looks in crunch time to make sure that our dopey basset adversary didn't prevail, throughout much of the game, the defense looked fairly vanilla. This is by design, in my opinion. Why put on tape exactly how you're going to make Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson's lives a living hell in January all the way back at the beginning of the year in September? There's no reason.
This could be me camping in a copium tent and ignoring signs that Week 1 was more of an aberration than the expected norm from the Chiefs' defense in 2026, but again—there are a bunch of dogs out there. This is going to be a work in progress to get young guys to gel while keeping old guys fresh. It's a balancing act. But if there's a guy to do it, and to camouflage it all along the way, it's Spags.
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