Arguably the most important thing a good football team has is an identity. An identity is a play style that separates you from the rest of the league. It’s what you do best and what you lean on to win big games.
The cool thing about football is there are many different shapes that can form an identity. For example, the Peyton Manning era with the Indianapolis Colts was defined by their elite passing game, with Manning and multiple Hall of Fame receivers in Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison. The Pittsburgh
Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have long held an identity of a tough, physical defense built on front seven play. The Seattle Seahawks built two Super Bowl teams within 15 years based on dominant defenses.
It’s cool to see the shift and change in identity over time among the great teams. The New England Patriots under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were a prime example of this. When the franchise first started winning Super Bowls, it was because of a dominant defense. In the early 2010s, the organization acquired players like wide receivers Wes Welker, Randy Moss, and tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez in a shift to having an all-time offense.
The Kansas City Chiefs have undergone a similar arc to the Patriots in modern history. From 2018-2022, the Chiefs’ identity was built on having a dominant, explosive offense. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes was a player the league had never seen with his combination of arm talent, athleticism, and feel for the game. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill was potentially the fastest player ever who grew into being an elite receiver. Tight end Travis Kelce was arguably the best pass-catching tight end in football history.
The offense was built around those three players and had strong supporting pieces around them. Offensive tackles Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz were great bookends to keeping Mahomes upright. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins wasn’t always healthy and consistent, but his best moments in the playoffs proved to be huge.
But, like the Patriots, the Chiefs had to shift the identity to the other side of the ball to continue winning championships after the 2022 season. Kelce started to decline in 2023, which took the offense from the best in the league to closer to league average. The wide receiver play fell off a cliff, the running game was nonexistent, and the tackle play was always shaky.
Fortunately, the Chiefs had spent years building up their defense to the point where it was dominant in 2023. Defensive tackle Chris Jones has been a stalwart throughout this entire dynasty, but the team had finally surrounded him with elite personnel. Cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and L’Jarius Sneed dominated the entire 2023 season by blanketing every receiver in man coverage.
Over the past two seasons, something has changed.
The Chiefs have lacked an identity, something the team differentiates itself from other contenders with.
This wasn’t an issue for most of the 2024 season. The team went 15-1 in the games that Mahomes started. However, there was always something off about that team, never really playing dominant football. The team did a great job closing out games, but each one was a slog. The team was good enough on both sides of the ball, and didn’t have a calling card.
That lack of an elite characteristic caught up to them in Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles, with an elite defense, stomped the Chiefs’ offense, which had less talent and simply wasn’t elite. The Chiefs did stop the run that game, but struggled to cover the downfield passes the coverage would’ve more likely stopped in 2023. The Eagles had a clear identity to win and destroyed a Chiefs team that never found theirs.
This lack of identity became an even bigger problem in 2025. The close-game results flipped in the opposite direction. Some of that is bad luck, but the team still had similar core issues: it wasn’t elite on either side of the ball and couldn’t lean on anything. The struggles at receiver and in the run game capped the offense’s ceiling. The defense had bled talent and couldn’t get pressure.
Moving it forward to 2026, I’m not sure what the identity of this team is going to be.
The front office didn’t go all-out on addressing one side of the ball as has been done previously. Instead, they made moves on both sides of the ball to address weaknesses.
With running back Kenneth Walker in Kansas City, will we finally see the Chiefs build the offensive identity around a strong run game?
Is that enough for them to have an elite offense?
This team still has receiver problems and tackle concerns, so I don’t think they can build an identity around an elite passing game. They do have an elite offensive line in the run game, so maybe having a dynamic running back can let them build a team around that.
Defensively, it’s hard to know what it will be because they have so many young players. I’m not sure what the scheme or playstyle will look like yet. The question is whether those young players can get up to speed quick enough for them to have a defensive identity.
Regardless, for the Chiefs to return to being an elite team, they have to find a calling card they’re elite at. Even if it’s not this season, they need to find something to build around long-term in hopes of returning to the top of the NFL.
