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Chiefs Kingdom held its collective breath late in the first half when quarterback Patrick Mahomes was shaken up after he was sacked and fumbled the ball deep in Kansas City territory.
But Mahomes didn't miss a snap, returning to the game after the New York Jets went three-and-out and missed the first field goal by any opponent in more than a year.
Mahomes finished 23 of 31 for 242 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions as the Chiefs snapped a two-game losing streak with a 35-12 victory Sunday against New York at Arrowhead Stadium.
His favorite target, tight end Travis Kelce, added four catches for a game-high 72 yards to his Hall of Fame résumé and scored a rushing touchdown, while running back Kenneth Walker III enjoyed another monster game — 102 yards rushing on 18 carries with a touchdown and four catches for 41 yards and two scores.
Emmett Johnson scored for the second straight week on a 6-yard run in the fourth quarter before Justin Fields took over at quarterback, seeing out the Chiefs’ most-complete victory since a season-opening thumping of Denver.
Kansas City (6-2) remained a half-game behind the Broncos (7-2) in the AFC West standings.
Walker returns to end zone
After two weeks without scoring a touchdown, Kansas City got Walker untracked again.
He recorded his NFL-leading fifth multi-touchdown game, catching 7- and 25-yard touchdowns from Mahomes in the second quarter.
The scores were Walker’s ninth and 10th touchdowns of the season, giving him a new career-high. He added a third score later in the game.
Walker had nine touchdowns in each of his first two seasons with Seattle and scored another eight in 2024, his third year with the Seahawks.
En route to a Super Bowl championship last season, Walker only scored five touchdowns, so he’s already doubled his year-over-year TD production in less than half a season with Kansas City.
Walker has transformed the Chiefs’ offense, bringing a legitimate running threat to the backfield for the first time since Kareem Hunt’s first two seasons (2017-18). It’s also restored Mahomes’ ability to utilize play-action in the passing game.
Ironically, Kelce scored Kansas City’s first rushing touchdown, a sort of role reversal with Walker. It came on a two-hand shot put from Mahomes at the goal line on the opening drive of the third quarter.
Initially, Kelce’s score was ruled a receiving touchdown, but later changed to a rushing TD, the third of Kelce’s career and club-record 88th overall. Priest Holmes ranks second with 83 total touchdowns for Kansas City.
Walker added a third touchdown late in the third quarter on a 2-yard run.
The score capped an eight-play, 82-yard touchdown drive on the heels of a questionable holding penalty against Jadon Canady that erased a 69-yard Nikko Remigio punt return to the Jets' 5-yard line.
QB sneak returns (unfortunately!)
Mahomes suffered a dislocated kneecap on a quarterback sneak on Oct. 17, 2019, at Mile High Stadium.
More than 2,500 days later, the Chiefs tried a QB sneak again for the first time — and it failed in pretty spectacular fashion.
After struggling in short-yardage situations in recent weeks, Kansas City, which last used a sneak of any kind in 2023 with tight end Noah Gray doing the honors, ran its version of a tush push — with Fields instead of Mahomes under center — on its opening drive.
The result was a disaster of a brand new kind.
Initially, game officials ruled that Fields was stopped for no gain, but New York asked for a review, which showed Fields had fumbled.
Linebacker Demario Davis’ fumble recovery set up the Jets at the Chiefs’ 34-yard line.
Kansas City’s defense stopped New York, but the drive still netted a 48-yard field goal from Jason Sanders.
Perhaps the Chiefs should work on the play more before breaking it out again — or just let Mahomes do it.
Chiefs pass rush feasts
It’s been feast-or-famine for the Chiefs’ pass rush.
Against Geno Smith and the Jets, the eating was good up front for the defensive line.
Kansas City sacked Bo Nix four times in a season-opening win, then went three straight games without a sack before getting to Justin Herbert four times in a Week 6 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Chiefs managed one sack during a two-game losing skid at Seattle and Denver before racking up a season-high five sacks of Geno Smith in Sunday’s win.
Chris Jones and George Karlaftis each recorded two sacks and Ashton Gillotte added another.
It was Jones’ 18th career game with at least two sacks. He now has 90 in his career, moving past Tamba Hali (89.5) for second in Kansas City history behind only Derrick Thomas (126.5).
For Karlaftis, it was his third career game with at least two sacks and the first since a Dec. 15, 2024, win at Cleveland.
Defense finally steadies
The Jets scored first, taking the opening kickoff and marching 64 yards on 14 plays. The 8-minute, 13-second drive only netted a field goal — Jason Sanders connected from 23 yards out — after stalling at the 5-yard line.
It was the third consecutive scoring drive the Chiefs’ defense allowed after coughing up back-to-back touchdown drives during a fourth-quarter meltdown in a four-point loss last Sunday at Denver.
On the kickoff before the drive, Cyrus Allen fumbled, but Kansas City avoided disaster — temporarily, as it turned out — when linebacker Jeffrey Bassa fell on the loose ball.
Sandwiched around Walker’s second first touchdown, Sanders added field goals on each of the Jets’ next two drives, so the Chiefs’ defense had coughed up points on five straight drives.
The streak ended when Nick Bolton punched the ball from Braelon Allen’s grasp on the opening play of the next drive.
Alohi Gilman recovered the fumble — and was punished by Geno Smith, who flew in for the tackle — which set up Walker’s second TD.
Crazy field-goal streak ends
It's a crazy stat that reflects luck as much as anything, but it was more than a year since an opposing NFL kicker missed a field goal against the Chiefs until the final minute of the first half.
Matt Prater’s 52-yard field goal try late in Buffalo’s win on Nov. 2, 2025, was the only field goal any opposing kicker missed against Kansas City last season.
Opponents’ 31-of-32 success rate was the second-highest field-goal conversion rate against any NFL team in the last decade, according to Warren Sharp.
Opposing kickers made 22 straight field goals against the Chiefs to end last season and started the 2026 season with 19 made field goals in a row before Sanders missed a 53-yard try with 32 seconds left before halftime.
That ended a streak of 41 consecutive made field-goal tries by opposing kickers against Kansas City.
Daniel Carlson missed three straight field goals in a Black Friday win against the Raiders on Nov. 29, 2024. Opposing kickers made their next five regular-season kicks to close out the season.
From Dec. 8, 2024, until Sanders’ miss on his fifth field-goal try Sunday, opposing kickers made 55 of 56 field goals during the next 30 games.
Injury report
Right tackle Jaylon Moore (ankle) left the game in the second half and was listed as questionable to return. He was downgraded to doubtful midway through the fourth quarter.
Josh Ezeudu replaced Moore.
Late in the fourth quarter, wide receiver Xavier Worthy caught his sixth pass, a 9-yard reception that gave him 48 yards in the game, but he appeared to injure his left leg.
Worthy was spotted on all fours on the sideline and, after a few minutes, retreated to the locker room with a member of the Chiefs’ medical staff.
He was ruled out with a hamstring injury.
The receiver position is already in need for Kansas City after losing Tyquan Thornton to injury at Las Vegas, so a significant injury to Worthy probably forces General Manager Brett Veach to explore options on the trade market before Tuesday’s deadline.
