September 24, 2026
Two games, two wins, and for the first time in what feels like forever, the Chiefs offense looks like the Chiefs offense. Chiz caught this one live at Arrowhead — a Monday night overtime survival act against the Colts that Butker closed out with a field goal at, in Dex's words, "a medium pace." Combined with the Week 1 beatdown of Denver, Kansas City sits at 2-0, and the crew couldn't wait for the next full guillotine show to talk about it. Here's what stood out.
Arrowhead Still Hits Different
Chiz has made the pilgrimage to Arrowhead nearly every year, and this one didn't disappoint. "Any game you go to at Arrowhead, it's like a playoff game," he said. "The crowd is into it, the atmosphere is electric." He's not shy about his worries for the new stadium, either: "I hope they don't screw it up. The tailgating needs to be on steroids. The acoustics need to be great. It can't feel too bougie." Rock and Roll Part II coming back after touchdowns would help, too — Dex is on board with that one.
Bieniemy Redemption, Mahomes Under Center
The headline, though, is what's happening on offense. "For the first time in a few years, I believe the Chiefs offense is back," Chiz said — and he's the first to admit he was wrong about Eric Bieniemy. "I was a big trasher of Bieniemy. I hated on him. Guy couldn't get a coaching job to save his soul." Then Kansas City got Nagy'd, as Dex put it, and the contrast did the talking. Whether it's Bieniemy or just more talent around him, nobody on the show is arguing with the results.
Part of it is scheme: Mahomes is taking far more snaps under center than he has in years, which brings back the play-action threat that vanished when everything ran out of shotgun. "It's hard to run out of the shotgun — you're starting five yards deep and flat-footed," Chiz said. The payoff showed up on the deep ball Monday night, when Mahomes play-faked, read the field immediately, and uncorked what Chiz called "an unbelievably beautiful deep ball." Run the ball, and the deep ball opens up. Open the deep ball, and Travis Kelce's middle-of-the-field work opens up behind it — which is exactly how Kelce ended up with 100 receiving yards and 16 targets through two games. "There's still a lot of linebackers he can outrun," Pru said, "and his size is bigger than every corner out there." Dex thinks the volume is sustainable: "He looks like he came into camp taking it seriously. Man, did he look faster?"
Kenneth Walker Is a Different Animal
Kenneth Walker III put up 117 yards against the Colts, and the tape backs up the box score. "We haven't had a running back with that vision and ability to cut since—" Chiz started, before Pru finished the thought: patience, the willingness to stop and even go backward a step before hitting the crease. It's a sharp contrast with a Chiefs-favorite in Isiah Pacheco, who Chiz loves but describes plainly: "Run to the hole, and if the hole's not there, run through the back of the lineman." Walker gets a hole that isn't there yet to open up.
Seven different Chiefs have found the end zone through two weeks — Mahomes, Kelce, Walker, Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, and Jalen Royals among them — which is exactly the kind of distributed, unpredictable attack that made this offense a problem for two years running before last season's collapse.
Tonga, Fields, and the Third-and-One Answer
Kyrus Tonga lining up in the backfield was the other wrinkle everyone wanted to talk about. "That's like eleven hundred pounds of fury," Pru said, comparing it to Dontari Poe's old goal-line cameos. Chiz's read: Andy Reid saw a fullback he could actually scheme with, not just a roster-clogging specialist. "It's hard for them to carry a full-time offensive fullback," Pru said, "so to have a guy who can play both ways part-time is a tremendous value." Add in Justin Fields' third-and-short and goal-line package — the exact formation that produced Walker's receiving touchdown — and defenses now have to guess whether it's a run, a pass, an option, or a pop pass to Kelce releasing to the flat. "How do you defend it?" Chiz asked. "It's a nightmare."
The Defense Found LaJarius Sneed Again
On the other side of the ball, LaJarius Sneed leads the team in tackles through two games — a full reversal from a rough stint in Tennessee. "What time machine did this guy get in?" Chiz asked. Pru's theory: it's the scheme. "It's like the connection between Bieniemy and Reid — one plus one equals more than two. This is Spagnuolo plus Sneed." Nick Bolton is right behind him with eight tackles of his own, and Chris Jones is still disrupting plays at the line even without a sack to show for it yet — "he's so quick and strong that if he plugs a gap off the snap, he completely disrupts the play," Chiz said.
The one hole: rookie corner Mansoor Delane warmed up but didn't play, and it showed. Colts receiver Josh Downs went off for seven catches and 72 yards opposite him. "Maybe Jonathan Taylor doesn't run as well if Delane's in the game," Pru said. The crew is also higher than expected on rookie safety Jaden Hicks and R. Mason Thomas off the edge, and Chiz gave a surprise shoutout to offensive tackle depth piece Noel Williams, who forced the fumble that a lengthy review controversially overturned to down-by-contact.
What's a Realistic Record Through Week 8?
Four of the next five are on the road, starting with Miami this week — a game the crew likes Kansas City to win, followed by a trip to a surprising Las Vegas team that still plays like a home game for the Chiefs, an ill-timed bye in Week 5, then a home date with the Chargers before road trips to Seattle and Denver. Pru and Chiz both land around 4-1 or 5-0 heading into the bye, even accounting for a possible split out west. From there, a soft stretch — the Jets at home, at Atlanta, the Cardinals at home — sets up what Chiz calls a realistic "chalk 8-2" through Week 10, ahead of a brutal closing stretch that includes Buffalo, a trip out to LA, and Cincinnati in close succession. "You hope to get one of those," Chiz said, though Dex isn't ready to rule out the sweep: "With Patty, you could win all three." Even in the worst case, the crew has Kansas City finishing with a home win over New England, a tough one against San Francisco, a trip to the Chargers, and a home date with Vegas to close it out — landing right around 11 wins for the year.
One more data point on how the rest of the league sees it: the highest ticket prices left on the Chiefs' schedule are for Buffalo and Seattle — both possible previews of January. Miami, by contrast, will run you $92.
Two-and-oh, no significant injuries, Mahomes looking like himself, and a defense that's rediscovering its old identity. As Chiz put it, "I don't think we could have a better start to the season." On to Miami.
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