Kenneth Walker III delivered a K.C. masterpiece in his debut and the Chiefs announced their return to form with a 31-10 win over the visiting Denver Broncos on Monday night.
Signed as a free agent after winning Super Bowl MVP honors with the Seahawks in February, Walker wowed with a career-high 173 rushing yards and two total touchdowns.
Another Super Bowl MVP, Patrick Mahomes, threw TD passes to Walker and Rashee Rice, ran for a 15-yard score in the first half and worked through early cobwebs in his first game since sustaining a season-ending knee injury in December. He completed 15 of 27 passes for 184 yards with one interception.
Heat, wind and humidity hindered Broncos quarterback Bo Nix at different times in the game. He was intercepted on the third play from scrimmage of the game and Kansas City’s defense kept bringing the heat with four sacks and two forced fumbles.
In his first game with Davis Webb operating as the play-caller instead of head coach Sean Payton, Nix connected on 17 of 28 passes for 131 yards and a first-quarter touchdown pass to Evan Engram.
The Chiefs rushed for 220 yards. The Broncos had 176 total yards.
Walker boosted Kansas City’s lead to 21-7 with a 60-yard TD on the first possession of the second half. On his 16th carry of the game, Walker bounced a fourth-and-1 run left while eluding diving Broncos cornerback Riley Moss and found nothing but green grass in front of him. Walker also picked up first downs on three third-and-1 carries in the first half.
When Walker crossed the goal line with the clock showing 12:43 in the third, he had outgained the Broncos 165-113.
Kansas City limited Denver’s offense to nine first downs (including one via penalty) and two third-down conversions on 12 attempts.
Walker caught a misdirection toss from Mahomes and trailed an escort into the end zone to stake the Chiefs to a 31-10 lead 21 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Broncos appeared to be already hanging by a thread in the third quarter when Brandon Jones came up with a gift interception courtesy of Mahomes.
Throwing from his own end zone, Mahomes was picked off on a pass intended for Xavier Worthy. Worthy cut up the field, and Mahomes threw the ball between the hashmarks where Jones stood alone at the 28. Jones returned the ball to the Kansas City 5, but the Broncos botched multiple plays, narrowly evading disaster when Nix lost the ball near the sideline while scrambling away from L’Jarius Sneed. Sneed recovered but was out of bounds. By rule, the Broncos retained possession.
Denver lost 8 yards on three plays and came away with a 31-yard field goal by Wil Lutz.
The Chiefs had first-and-goal at the 4 on the next possession only to put three on the board themselves. On that drive, the Chiefs made some history.
Mahomes hooked up with Travis Kelce for the second time in the game, a 59-yard reception that moved Kelce to second all-time in NFL history for most receiving yards by a tight end. He passed Jason Witten (13,046 yards) but still stands more than 2,000 yards behind former Chiefs and Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez (15,127).
With his three catches for 71 yards on Monday, Kelce now has 13,079 receiving yards.
Nix fumbled again to give Mahomes the ball right back. Nix moved up in the pocket on third-and-16, but the ball squirted out of his hands and Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones recovered at Denver’s 34.
Nix was intercepted by rookie Mansoor Delane on the opening drive of the game. Delane, the No. 6 pick in the 2026 draft, left the game with a shoulder injury and didn’t return.