The Chiefs' Offense Has Done the Hard Part; Now It's Time to Learn From Last Year

The Kansas City Chiefs are undefeated and have the second-highest-scoring offense in the AFC after four weeks, but they still have plenty of work to do.

At first blush, Chiefs fans may balk at that sentiment. Kenneth Walker is setting early-season records while Patrick Mahomes looks to be playing his best football in recent years. What has the offense failed to do in the first quarter of the year?

Ask Mahomes. After Sunday's win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Mahomes was asked how he felt about the current state of the offense, and he provided an interesting angle on where the unit stands right now.

"We're close," Mahomes said. "We have the explosiveness part, and now it's about just stringing drives together, being able to do both. We've done it in spurts where we've had some long drives in certain points of games, but being more consistent about that, not having as many three-and-outs, I think that'd be important for us, but if we can continue to have the explosive plays, that covers up a lot, and now we've got to add that consistency to it as well."

Now, take Mahomes' analysis and think back to the 2024 and 2025 Chiefs offenses. Those teams, relying on Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco on the ground and Travis Kelce and a cast of others through the air, operated on fine margins, lacking in explosiveness but executing at a high enough level in got-to-have-it moments to go 15-2 in '24 before the wheels fell off in '25.

These relatively simple stats only tell part of the story, but just to jog your memory: Mahomes' yards per attempt stats in 2023-25 brought the lowest Y/A numbers of his career as a starter (6.9, 6.8, 7.0). This year, he's averaging 8.1 yards per attempt through four games.

On the ground across those same three seasons, the Chiefs averaged rushing yards per attempt of 4.3, 4.0, and 4.2, and those numbers were buoyed by Mahomes' efficient scrambling, while his top two running backs failed to average more than 3.9 yards per carry in the last two seasons. So far, the 2026 Chiefs are averaging an absurd 5.5 yards per carry in 2026 thanks to Walker's outrageous 6.2 average.

To Mahomes' point on Sunday—and presumably, to his delight—the Chiefs' offense has created explosive plays through the running game in a way that puts last season's rushing attack to shame.

Rushing plays of 20+ yards:

Chiefs in 2025: 3 in 17 games (last in NFL)

Chiefs in 2026: 6 in four games (most in NFL)
— Matt McMullen (@KCChiefs_Matt) October 5, 2026

Define "explosive plays" however you'd like—the Chiefs have been creating them, both on the ground and through the air.

The Chiefs have an NFL-best 4 plays of 50+ yards through four games.

They had 2 all of last year.
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) October 5, 2026

The Chiefs have had no problem creating big plays this season after remaining in desperate need of more explosion throughout their doomed 2025 campaign. This year's Chiefs offense has figured out the hard part. They have the players who can keep them explosive (even though the loss of Tyquan Thornton will loom large). Bringing consistency should, comparatively, be the easy part.

With Mahomes, Walker, Kelce and Rashee Rice, the Chiefs have the tools to remain steady on a down-to-down basis. The return of left tackle Josh Simmons and left guard Kingsley Suamataia would go a long way to stabilizing the offensive line, which should provide Mahomes an opportunity to take his layups while patiently waiting for his chance to hunt for the next big play. Similar logic would apply for Walker and the running game: better O-line play would help KC through their recent short-yardage struggles, while Walker's home run ability isn't going anywhere.

Head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy will also need to evaluate their role in this search for consistency, but they've engineered plenty of steady offensive units over the years with lesser talent and much less explosiveness. As long as the big plays remain a core part of the Chiefs' offensive identity, the next act of Kansas City's season could be even more exceptional.

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