The Kansas City Chiefs offense hasn't been as efficient in the past couple of seasons. After missing the playoffs and having their starting quarterback go down with a knee injury last season, there was a conscious effort by the Chiefs to fix their struggling run game to give the offense a little more balance and give Mahomes some help. However, if fans tuned into their first preseason game to see this new offense in action, they were probably disappointed.
All preseason reports have consistently talked about how much more the Chiefs have been practicing under center and their renewed commitment to the run game. The Chiefs' biggest signing this offseason was running back Kenneth Walker to help put this plan into action. The Chiefs understandably sat Patrick Mahomes to ensure he didn't suffer a setback in his return from a major knee injury, and Walker made a token appearance on the first play and then sat the rest of the day.
Without his starting quarterback and starting running back, Andy Reid apparently decided to wait on the new offensive game plan because the one drive Justin Fields got with the starting offensive line looked a whole lot like the past two seasons. That first drive had six plays called. Four of those six plays were passing plays, and only one of the six was under center.
If fans are excited about the potential of being under center more, fixing the run game, and seeing more play action in the offense, it isn't time to panic yet. Teams never want to show their full hand in preseason games, and when the Chiefs essentially didn't use Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, or Kenneth Walker, you certainly can't feel like this first preseason game was a great display of KC's 2026 offense.
Having said that, if this team is trying to develop a more physical under-center rushing attack, it would have been nice to see them at least try it a little while the starting line was in the game. Later in the game, you saw them give some under-center runs to rookie Emmett Johnson with some success. While that was good to see, it would be nice to see some of that same playcalling with the starters in KC's next preseason game.
Andy Reid has a long history of loving the shotgun formation and ignoring the rushing attack. It's one thing to say they will run and be under center more in the media or even run some more of those plays in camp, but Reid will have to prove he's actually willing to call those plays when there is an actual opposing defense lined up across from his players.
It's not a problem that it didn't happen with the starters in preseason game number one. It's not even a problem if he hides that game plan throughout the preseason, but if, in Week 1 of the regular season against the Denver Broncos, the first six plays feature five plays out of the shotgun, that will be another story.
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