The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Los Angeles Chargers this weekend, keeping their unblemished record intact as they cruise toward a 10th playoff berth in 11 seasons. While this is a solid performance, the Chiefs have yet to be truly tested in 2026.
Kansas City’s 22-6 victory over the Chargers revealed nothing new about the club. The Bolts are a bad football team that has roster issues, schematic issues and injury issues that caused them to start four rookie offensive linemen in Week 6. The Chiefs played smart against their imploding foe, riding another great performance from key offseason acquisition Kenneth Walker III to an easy victory.
While Walker has been a revelation and has helped immensely with Patrick Mahomes getting back into action after recovering from a torn ACL, the Chiefs have yet to face a legitimate Super Bowl contender this season. The combined record of their first five opponents is 9-17, with the Chargers and Miami Dolphins both winless and the Denver Broncos (who have a myriad of offensive issues to resolve) being the only team above .500 heading into Week 7.
At this rate, the Chiefs might not be challenged until the second half of the campaign. Their next five games are against the Seattle Seahawks, Broncos, New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals, a stretch in which Kansas City will likely be heavily favored throughout.
Things will get a lot tougher starting in Week 12 when the Chiefs travel to Highmark Stadium to face the Buffalo Bills, kicking off a five-week stretch against several Super Bowl hopefuls. This includes meetings with the Los Angeles Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers in consecutive weeks.
If the Chiefs can get through this part of the schedule with a winning record and remain in control of the AFC, then it will be time to seriously consider them as a Lombardi Trophy threat. In the meantime, they remain a team that has yet to prove that last year’s 6-11 mark was a fluke.
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