When I was a younger lad, our school choir (yes, I was a choir boy) would compete annually in a high school competition at Six Flags in St. Louis. If you could make it through the bus-wide sing-along portion of the trip without getting into trouble, you'd arrive at the best part: the perpetual roller coaster riding that likely caused long-term neck and possibly brain problems. One of my favorites, Mr. Freeze, was particularly exhilarating because you were shot out of a dark tube going 0-60 MPH in about 3 seconds.
When the Kansas City Chiefs began their 31-10 dethroning of the Broncos on Monday night with a Mansoor Delane interception on Denver's opening drive, followed by a 15-yard TD scramble from Patrick Mahomes, I felt like I was right back in a front row seat on Mr. Freeze. Kansas City's rushing attack was shot out of a cannon last night, and their defense was the perfect complement, leading to a result that was achieved largely by the stunning physicality that the Chiefs were able to impose on a team that went 14-3 a season ago.
This change of pace for the Chiefs, while different, shouldn't have been totally unexpected. Kansas City spent big in the offseason on Kenneth Walker, who had 26 total touches for 191 yards and 2 scores. They also made a hard-nosed decision to bring back offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Defensively, K.C. used its first 4 picks of last year's draft to yet again rejuvenate a unit that looked, at least in Week 1, like it might be able to hold up for another deep postseason run.
Now, it would be foolish to get too far ahead of ourselves after just one game. While it was an adrenaline-inducing opening to the season for many reasons, it is just Week 1. A lot can happen between now and January. But I'm not here to try to rationalize all of this and keep things in perspective. Here are some—mostly good, but some bad—overreactions from the Chiefs' big win on Monday night.
Patrick Mahomes is the last of a dying breed
We've known this since Mahomes first took the field as the Chiefs' starter in 2018, but we have an absolute cold-blooded killer on our hands at quarterback. The hype has been building over the course of the last few months for number 15's return, and he could not have opened the season in a more goosebump-producing fashion. Explode your knee on December 14, come back and shove a rushing touchdown straight down the Broncos' throat exactly 9 months to the day later? I could have run through every wall in my house after the Chiefs' opening score last night, and it truly set the tone for a raucous Arrowhead crowd for the entire evening.
Mahomes is the last of a dying breed in sports. The type that is so competitively driven that they form their entire identity, their ego and their id, their moral fiber around stealing the souls of their competitors. We've seen these traits before in guys like Michael Jordan and Tom Brady, Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. Guys who will stop at nothing, literally, to continually get to the top of their respective sports. Mahomes is cut from the same cloth as all of these guys.
In a sports landscape where so many of today's athletes, admirably, are putting their mental health ahead of their deranged sense of competition, Mahomes' devotion to being a vampire of joy to all of his opponents is diabolically refreshing for Chiefs fans. Don't get me wrong—Mahomes' priorities appear to be firmly intact, as he appears to be a phenomenal husband, father, friend, and teammate. But when he puts on a helmet and gets between the lines, no one has the same maniacal drive to be the best.
This is the most physical version of the Chiefs we've seen in 2 decades
At times on Monday night, I felt as though I was time traveling back to a simpler time. In fact, it was around the time I was hitting back-to-back-to-back trips to Mr. Freeze. The year was 2003, and life was easy, outside of the late stages of puberty and the random voice cracks and armpit sweat accompanying that time.
That Chiefs team had Willie Roaf, Will Shields, Casey Wiegmann, Brian Waters, and John Tait clearing semi-truck-sized holes for Priest Holmes. The 2026 Chiefs may not have that Hall of Fame pedigree up front, or in the backfield, but last night's rushing performance conjured up memories of smash-mouth Chiefs teams of yesteryear. To put it simply, the Broncos were not prepared for the level of physicality that the Chiefs brought to the table on either side of the ball, but Kenneth Walker and the Chiefs' rushing attack set the tone early and often to propel the offense to a 31-point outburst.
The Chiefs appear to have firmly rechanneled their inner dog coming off of an embarrassing 2025 campaign. Between the run game and the rejuvenated physicality of the defense, spearheaded by the return of L'Jarius Sneed, this team is far from finesse. If they can maintain this level of physicality and performance in the rushing attack, we may be talking about a top-5 run offense complementing a top-5 defense by the time the season is over. That brand of football bodes well for teams in the postseason.
The Chiefs wide receivers are (still) an issue
As I'm sure we all noticed on Monday, Kansas City's wide receiving corps left much to be desired to open the season. While Rashee Rice did eventually find paydirt, the outside passing game looked out of sync for most of the evening. The Chiefs' wideouts accounted for 5 receptions and 37 yards on 10 total targets in the opener. A 36-year-old Travis Kelce outgained the entire unit by 22 yards on one play.
What's more concerning is the fact that the receivers were able to convert 5 catches out of their 10 total opportunities, the fact that they produced 37 total yards, or the fact that they were only able to create enough separation 10 times throughout the course of the night for Mahomes to even feel comfortable enough to throw the ball their way?
The answer is all of the above, but it's also not an answer we should collectively lose much sleep over. It is a long season, and the game plan last night was crystal clear—hammer Denver in the teeth with the rushing attack so their pass rushers can't pin their ears back and come after Patrick Mahomes. That was a phenomenal plan for many reasons, but a byproduct of that was that the passing game never really got the opportunity to catch a rhythm. Let's just hope this is more game-plan-based than talent-based. The Chiefs have been in much worse places talent-wise when it comes to the wide receiver room and have two Lombardis to show for those rosters.
The Chiefs are so back
A week ago, I wrote about properly tempering expectations and the power of perspective when it comes to the Chiefs. Today, I am throwing all of that out the window and proclaiming that the world-beating, multi-time Super Bowl champion, dynastic juggernaut Kansas City Chiefs are back. Monday night served as a notice to the rest of the NFL: doubt the Chiefs, sleep on the Chiefs, but the Chiefs aren't coming. They're here.
Denver was 14-3 and likely would have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl had it not been for an injury to Bo Nix that occurred late in the divisional round against Buffalo a year ago. By many counts, they were one of the most complete teams in the AFC. They added to their offensive firepower with Jaylen Waddle and kept the core of their vaunted defense intact. And what happened to them on Monday night? They got absolutely clowned in front of the entire league.
The Chiefs sent a message to the Broncos last night, clearly showing them that their grasp on the AFC West was temporary. But in the process, they put out an APB to the entire NFL. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are back, they're built different, and they are going to be a problem for anyone who sees them in 2026. The team will undoubtedly falter at some point, dropping a few games here and there, but complementing Mahomes' unparalleled ability and killer instinct with a run game that appears lethal, and placing all of that in Andy Reid's hands? That is a dangerous prospect for those who prematurely celebrated the Chiefs' demise.
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