Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spoke with reporters on Friday. He shared his expectations for the defense against the Denver Broncos in Week 1 and improvement goals throughout the season.
"Listen, other coaches have said it, and I feel the same. It might take the first month, that's four games. I guess we're going to have the bye (week) into it; it may take that (long) to figure out exactly," said Spagnuolo. "Now, you just hope that while you're figuring it out, you're finding a way to win some games because you don't want to be behind the eight ball after the first month, but that's real."
The Chiefs defense has done well over the last few seasons against a team's top wide receiver. In 2025, the unit held quarterbacks
to under 200 yards passing per game. Spagnuolo hopes to build on that, with veterans influencing the new players.
"I think that's real, now, if you have a really, really veteran team, it might be a little bit different, but because of the way the league is with free agency and all that, it seems like we've always got some new pieces that we've got to get used to, probably more so this year," said Spagnuolo. It's going to take a little while, but it's the reason why, when we went into this game plan, we tried to shave things off because we want the guys to play as fast as they can."
Kansas City ranked in the top 10 in points allowed, giving up 19.3 points per game. They will be in for a battle on Monday Night Football against a lethal Broncos offense with their starting quarterback Bo Nix back on the field. He is confident in the defense being up for the challenge after three preseason games.
"Yeah, listen, I said this to you guys before about preseason games. I always go right back to tackling," said Spagnuolo, "Because if we were to come out of the game and say that our tackling was not very good, I think that's the worst problem to have because you can't go to full tackling drills next week or whatever. So, I'm hoping that we're there in that part of it. The next thing for me is how well we can be chemistry-wise and continuity-wise because I think if we can do those two things, we can have a fighting chance of playing pretty well."
The Arrowhead Stadium crowd will likely be a factor in this must-see AFC West matchup.
This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Steve Spagnuolo reveals expectations for the defense vs. the Broncos
