Sunday Night Football was handed a script.
It was supposed to be the Kenneth Walker revenge game, a chance for the star running back to stick it to the Seattle Seahawks and show his former team firsthand how big of a mistake they made by letting him walk in free agency.
But things went anything but according to script for the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs got their doors blown off 20-3 in a game that was more lopsided than the three-score margin suggests, while Walker had his worst game of the season so far. It was a train wreck.
Kenneth Walker's worst game of the season
The ground game has been Kansas City’s biggest weapon this season, but it was stopped in its tracks in Seattle.
Heading into Week 7, Walker was the NFL’s leading rusher with an average of 133 yards per game and 6.3 yards per carry. But the Seahawks held him to 36 yards on 14 carries, a measly 2.6 yards per rush and zero explosive plays.
Walker’s longest run went for just seven yards—shorter than runs by both Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba—and he had a success rate of 29 percent. All of those stats were season lows for Walker.
It was the total opposite of everything we’d seen so far this season. Run-blocking gaps were nonexistent, and there was no space when Walker tried to bounce it outside. The Seahawks were able to stick their tackles, too—something previous opponents couldn't.
Seattle shut down the Chiefs without stacking the box
What I found most concerning about the lack of a run game was how Seattle managed to stop it. It seemed like the only way a defense could slow down Walker was to load up the box—but that’s not what the Seahawks did.
Seattle stacked the box just once all game but still managed to hold Walker to season lows across the board. It was like we were watching last year’s ground attack all over again.
Here's something that might surprise you: The Seahawks have kept Kenneth Walker in check WITHOUT loading the box.
— Henry McKenna (@henrycmckenna) October 26, 2026
They stacked the box just once tonight. Just once.
And yet he's at 12 carries for 33 yards. pic.twitter.com/Db4SPd2aUP
But as awful as the Chiefs were running the ball, we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Walker is still a fantastic running back, and he is still worth every penny the Chiefs paid to sign him. He’s still on track for almost 2,000 yards this season, and the Chiefs are still a much better team with him on the field. It was just one bad day.
Styles make fights, and the Chiefs came up against a team well-suited to slow down Walker. Seattle's defense is easily a top-five defensive unit in the league, and they haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 36 consecutive games. It was always going to be tough to run the ball, and Kansas City’s O-line simply got outmatched.
The Chiefs failed Kenneth Walker when he needed help
The struggles in the passing game just made the situation even worse. The Seahawks were in control from start to finish, and the Chiefs could do nothing to make them even the slightest bit uncomfortable on defense.
It’s frustrating because, on the surface, the result seems to vindicate Seattle’s decision not to franchise tag or re-sign Walker. He had his worst game of the season, while Seattle running back Emanuel Wilson had 100 yards and a touchdown. But even a broken clock is still right twice a day.
What we saw last night was that even Walker, like Patrick Mahomes, can’t do it all by himself all of the time. He needed help from somewhere—from the O-line, from the passing game, from the playcalling, from anywhere—and he didn’t get it.
It felt like the Chiefs failed Walker, not the other way around.
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