The Kansas City Chiefs seem to be at a fork in the road with their dynasty. The franchise's 10-year streak of making the playoffs ended in 2025 after they went 1-9 in one-score games, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes is working his way back from a devastating knee injury. Fellow future Hall of Famer Travis Kelce is likely playing his final season as he focuses on his post-football career and marriage to Taylor Swift.
That means a lot of uncertainty as K.C. prepares to host the Broncos in an AFC West showdown on Monday Football in NFL Week 1 on Sept. 14. You also hear talk this could be the last year for another Canton-bound guy in coach Andy Reid. It's his 14th season with Kansas City and Reid lasted 14 previously in Philadelphia, although he was fired there.
Wager on the NFL with the latest FanDuel promo code and get up to $1,000 in bet resets when you bet $5 for 5 days: Indeed, there have been many story lines to follow in Chiefs camp. Reid is considered an offensive guru and calls the plays for the most part, but that unit has been regressing for the past three seasons, even with Kansas City repeating as Super Bowl champion in 2023 and returning to the big game in 2024 but losing to Philadelphia. Fans can try out futures betting on the best betting apps, and our NFL news page can keep you up to date.
Bettors also can find picks from the SportsLine Projection Model and our experts for the 2026 NFL season. In Mahomes' first five seasons as a starter (2018-22), in which he won both of his regular-season MVPs, the Chiefs averaged at least 30 points per game to become one of just three teams all-time to average at least 30 in a five-year span, along with the 1940s/50s Rams and 2000s Patriots of Tom Brady. In that three-year span, Kansas City ranked first in scoring, first in yards per game and first in 20-yard plays league-wide.
However, the past three seasons combined, those rankings are 19th, 18th and tied for 23rd, respectively. Mahomes has somewhat evolved from a Brett Favre-type gunslinger type to more of a careful game manager as over the past three seasons he ranks 23rd in yards per attempt, 21st in passer rating and 11th in QB efficiency (as measured by per dropback). It's certainly not all on Mahomes.
Kelce will go down as one of the best tight ends in NFL history, but his last 1,000-yard season and double-digit TD catch season were both in 2022; otherwise No. 15 hasn't had great skill-position talent around him. The Chiefs are the only NFL team without a 1,000-yard rusher or receiver in the past three seasons. Mahomes has thrown for 11,698 yards since 2023, the most in a three-year span in league history without a 1,000-yard receiver.
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