No faith in Patrick Mahomes: Chiefs struggling to score considered a "best bet" in Week 1
The Kansas City Chiefs will open their 2026 season at home against the Denver Broncos.
No one is quite sure what to make of the Kansas City Chiefs heading into the 2026 season. A 6-11 record in 2025 seems like a blip on the radar, with last year's team not finding ways to win close games like they always have under head coach Andy Reid .
The front office re-tooled some positions during the offseason, but the team's success will ultimately depend on whether Patrick Mahomes can get back to MVP form following a major knee injury. By all accounts, Mahomes is healthy and perfectly fine for Week 1 . Still, not everyone is feeling hopeful, at least for that first game.
Both Chiefs and Broncos could struggle to score touchdowns in Week 1 matchup
Anthony Dabbundo of The Ringer put together his " Best Bets of NFL Week 1 " right before the first game kicked off, and he doesn't quite think Mahomes and the Chiefs offense will get off to a hot start . In fact, he thinks their first game against the Denver Broncos could be a defensive slog.
Teams weren’t afraid to blitz Mahomes last year. They weren’t afraid to play man coverage, and Mahomes was unable to connect on deep balls to expose defensive gaps. Even the Chiefs defense wasn’t very good when it blitzed opposing quarterbacks. These things all show up in close games. Why should we expect things to look different for Kansas City in Week 1? Denver will bring man blitzes. It’ll force the Chiefs into third-and-long because it has an excellent run defense. And because I have my doubts about the Broncos, too, I think this has the potential to be a low-scoring battle on Monday night.
Dabbundo's bet for that Broncos-Chiefs game is the under on 44.5 points . He isn't picking a winner, since it's expected to be a very tightly contested game. But it sounds like Chiefs fans shouldn't expect Mahomes fireworks in Week 1.
