With a week to go until the Kansas City Chiefs kick off the 2026 regular season against the Denver Broncos on “Monday Night Football,” it’s time to think about the year as a whole and how it could play out.
I joined Jay Binkley of 96.5 The Fan for a Chiefs discussion on the Kansas City airwaves on Monday morning and enjoyed thinking through the last question Jay asked:
By the end of the season, which unit will be better? Offense or Defense?
It’s a tough question. Last season, the Chiefs’ defense finished
the regular season sixth in points allowed and 10th in total yards allowed; the offense finished 21st and 20th in the same categories, respectively. Kansas City’s unit has outranked the offense in both for three consecutive seasons.
In 2022, the last season before offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy initially left the staff, the offense ranked first in points and yards while the defense ranked 16th and 11th. That was the last time the Chiefs’ offense clearly drove the team’s success.
Thinking through it, I still see the Chiefs’ defense outranking the offense this season. The rookies will come on as the season progresses under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, especially pass rusher R Mason Thomas and cornerback Mansoor Delane, and could be a top-10 or top-8 unit by season’s end.
The offense may not be putting up the gaudy statistics that quarterback Patrick Mahomes has before, but a strong run game should give the offense a higher floor than the last few seasons.
