Biggest Winners and Losers From Chiefs' Week 1 Win Over the Denver Broncos

The Chiefs ended their final offensive drive in victory formation deep in Broncos territory, handing the ball back to Denver just to run out the clock. That is how thoroughly Kansas City controlled Week 1.

Finding losers from this one is difficult, and limiting the winners is almost as hard, given how dominant the Chiefs were on both sides of the ball. Let's dive into the biggest winners and losers from the 31-10 win over Denver.

Winners

Kenneth Walker, Running Back

It's hard to overstate how much running back Kenneth Walker meant to the Chiefs' offensive efficiency Thursday night. Given how well Kansas City's defense played, it's plausible the Chiefs could have found a way to win with last year's running back room, but they certainly don't score 31 points without him.

Walker finished with 23 carries for 173 yards and a rushing touchdown, adding three catches for 18 yards and a receiving score. A 60-yard touchdown run showed off a new dimension of Andy Reid's offense, one that can produce a score on any given rush or halfback pass. Even setting that long touchdown aside, Walker still averaged more than five yards per carry.

He accounted for nearly 49 percent of the team's 392 yards of total offense, playing 68 percent of the offensive snaps and living up to the three-year, $43 million contract the Chiefs handed him this offseason. He broke four carries of 10 or more yards and forced 14 missed tackles, according to PFF, a level of production this backfield simply hasn't had in years.

Andy Reid and the offensive coaching staff

Reid and his staff deserve significant credit for Thursday's win. That side of the ball looked like an entirely different operation than it did in 2025, with physicality as the theme on Monday night.

If there's one critique that's followed Reid over the years, it's that his offenses do not always establish the run. Doing exactly that in Week 1 was critical given the state of the offensive line, and Kansas City blew the doors off the Broncos without needing to light up the scoreboard through the air.

Reid didn't stop there, either. Beyond the starting five up front, offensive linemen Mike Caliendo and Josh Ezeudu, defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga, and fullback Ben VanSumeren all logged offensive snaps, adding even more physicality and intentionality to the attack.

The Chiefs Defense

This unit was good enough that you could pick 10 different winners and justify every one.

On the first play of the game, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo dialed up a corner blitz, and Nohl Williams got home for the sack. Two plays later, 2026 sixth-overall pick Mansoor Delane hauled in his first career interception, with quarterback Bo Nix targeting wide receiver Courtland Sutton.

Nix finished the night limited to 131 yards passing, one touchdown, and an interception. Defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah added a strip-sack of Nix, and defensive tackle Chris Jones recovered the fumble to set up a touchdown that pushed the lead to 31-10.

L'Jarius Sneed led the team in tackles out of the slot, while linebacker Drue Tranquill paced the defense in run stops. The pass rush was just as disruptive, generating 25 pressures on the night, according to PFF.

Linebacker Nick Bolton, Anudike-Uzomah, Jones, and defensive end George Karlaftis each had three or more pressures, and rookie defensive end R Mason Thomas added two pressures and his first career sack. As a unit, Kansas City held Denver to 2-of-12 on third down, 61 rushing yards, and 176 total yards.

Losers

Mansoor Delane, Cornerback

Cornerback Masoor Delane isn't your typical loser on this list. He made an immediate impact with his first career interception on just the third play of the season. The downside came when he suffered a shoulder injury that knocked him out for the rest of the game, leaving his status unclear going forward.

It appeared to be the same shoulder that limited him for much of training camp, and it looked like the injury occurred as he was tackled on the return of his interception. Kristian Fulton filled in admirably, allowing just two catches for 11 yards, but Delane is a significant part of Spagnuolo's plans. Just as things appeared to be trending upward for him, he was back on the sideline.

The passing attack

Perhaps the most encouraging sign of the night was that Walker and the defense showed they can buy Patrick Mahomes time to work his way back to form. Mahomes flashed that immediately, scrambling 15 yards on second-and-goal and diving in for a touchdown, nine months to the day after tearing his ACL and LCL, to give Kansas City an early 7-0 lead.

The passing game never found much rhythm after that. Mahomes had just 14 yards passing late in the second quarter before finishing the first half with 62 yards on a drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Rashee Rice.

A 59-yard catch-and-run from tight end Travis Kelce late in the third quarter did plenty of work in the box score, but Mahomes finished 15-for-27 for 184 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. On the pick, he and Xavier Worthy weren't on the same page, and for much of the night, Denver's talented secondary blanketed Kansas City's receiving corps.

If Walker and Emmett Johnson can keep the ground game rolling, it should buy the receivers and Mahomes more time to build chemistry, along with time for left tackle Josh Simmons to get his back fully healed. Add in a softer stretch of the schedule with the Colts, Dolphins, and Raiders on deck, and brighter days should be ahead for the passing attack.

Special Teams

The punting and kicking were about the only two things the Chiefs got right in the kicking game Thursday. Matt Araiza boomed four punts for an average of 54.5 yards, pinning two inside the 20, while Harrison Butker went 1-for-1 on field goals and 4-for-4 on extra points.

The return and coverage units were another story, and they handed Denver a real edge in field position frequently. Kansas City was flagged seven times, but four of those penalties came on special teams.

In the punt game, Nikko Remigio managed just seven total yards on two returns and averaged 26 yards per kick return. For a team that dominated nearly everywhere else, special teams was the one phase that didn't match the rest of the performance.

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