The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Denver Broncos 31-10 in a dominating effort at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday Night. In front of a packed house, the Chiefs dominated the Broncos from start to finish in an eye-opening display of firepower.
Many players had great games, but newly acquired running back Kenneth Walker had the best.
Walker finished with 173 rushing yards on 23 carries and a touchdown, averaging a whopping 7.5 yards per carry while also catching three passes for 18 yards and a touchdown.
His dynamic performance was the most rushing yards a Chiefs running back has ever had in their team debut, and it ranks 15th all time for rushing yards in a game for the team.
Walker displayed the power, speed, and explosion of a seasoned Pro Bowl-caliber back, and with head coach Andy Reid’s revamped run scheme, it led to a huge night for Walker.
Creating plays
Walker wasted no time showing off his cutting ability and vision. The Chiefs haven’t had a back who can make something out of nothing in a long time, but Walker made multiple plays with less-than-ideal run lanes up front.
On the snap, the Chiefs go with an offset zone look from under center. The backside double team initially creates movement, but Khalil Benson and Kingsley Suamataia allow their men to slip off as Walker gets to the line. Walker recognizes this and quickly jump-cuts to the outside, plants, and then, as the secondary starts to fill, jukes laterally to find space and break a tackle.
This play looks dead in the water once the backside double team gets split, but Walker had the vision and movement to create his own yards.
With poorly blocked plays, Walker found nice gains, and with decently blocked plays, he found even more yards.
The Chiefs go with a zone look to the weak side of the formation, and Suamataia and Humphrey work perfectly in combination to pass the slanting 3-technique from the B-Gap to the A-Gap. Humphrey seals the defensive tackle, while Suamataia works to the next level. The backside linebacker flows hard, but Walker keeps his feet churning, runs through contact, explodes into the second level, and breaks more tackles on his way to a big gain.
Walker was a tackle-breaking machine on Monday night, racking up 14 total, and he tallied them with his elusive running style and brute strength.
Out of a full-house backfield, the Chiefs run counter, and Walker follows the double team from Benson and Suamataia to the next level. The Broncos quickly fill the run, but Walker lowers his shoulder and delivers a big hit to a secondary player before working his way upfield.
Walker was excellent at creating his own yards, but his best run of the night came off good execution throughout the game.
Setting up the big one
Explosive run plays have been few and far between for Kansas City the past few seasons, but a deeper look shows the numbers weren’t just bad for breaking big runs; they were historically bad.
During his Chiefs debut, Walker matched the Chiefs’ explosive runs from the 2025 season, but his 60-yard dash to the end zone came from tremendous playcalling and taking advantage of the Broncos’ tendencies.
Early in the game, the Chiefs showed off heavy personnel looks, with extra offensive linemen on the field and nose tackle Khyiris Tonga at fullback.
On an early fourth-and-short, the Chiefs rolled out this heavy look, and Walker blasted up the middle for a first down.
There is nothing too complex about this play: more mass on the field for Kansas City leads to a better push up front, and Walker falls forward for a first down.
A few series later, Tonga comes back in on a third-and-short, and again the Chiefs pound the rock up the middle.
This time, the Broncos are prepared, and slant inside when they see Smith pull. The play is not tremendously blocked, but Walker disappears into the sea of bodies and re-emerges on the other side of the line of scrimmage for a first down.
It may not seem like much, but the data the offensive braintrust and Walker gathered from these two plays would set up the “big one.”
On fourth and short, the Chiefs come out in an offset I-formation look with the same overload personnel as the previous third-and-short look.
Once more, the Chiefs would go with a power play to the left, but this time they took advantage of Denver pinching the inside gaps.
With eleven players loaded in the box, the Broncos take away the inside, but with Tonga acting as a lead blocker, Walker reads the defense crash inside, then makes one cut and charges toward the perimeter.
The Broncos had grown accustomed to the Chiefs slugging out short yardage plays up the middle and cheating the look, and this time Walker makes them pay.
The burst to the outside is impressive, but his ability to break one more arm tackle and his second gear into the end zone sets him apart from other backs in the NFL.
The bottom line
The Chiefs have not had a back with Walker’s skill set since Kareem Hunt’s second season in the NFL in 2018, but maybe not one as talented since Jamaal Charles’ final season with the team in 2016.
This was the most impressive performance by a running back of the Mahomes era, and it is only the tip of the iceberg for what Walker and the Chiefs can accomplish in 2026.
The Chiefs have their running back, and it will be fun to see how they continue to plan to use him as the season progresses.
