Can the Chiefs establish a superpower this season?

Sports are about matchups, something that is often overlooked when discussing individual seasons rather than individual games.

Why did the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl two years ago? Simple. Matchups. The Eagles had the best defensive line in the NFL. The Chiefs’ offensive line was in shambles. Philadelphia exposed what the AFC failed to.

The matchup defined the season.

The Eagles’ defensive line was a superpower. Most Super Bowl champions have one. The Seahawks’ superpower was their defense, rolling three deep at every position on that side of the ball. How are you supposed to handle that as an offense? You don’t, it turns out. You hold on as long as you can, and say, “good game” when it’s all over.

The Chiefs lived a similarly charmed life for most of the past decade. The offense was among the best in the league from 2018-2022. Kansas City rode that superpower to three Super Bowl appearances and two titles. The defense emerged as the superpower in 2023 and 2024, resulting in two more Super Bowl appearances and another title.

Those superpowers fizzled out last season.

The offense wasn’t very good. The defense was fine, but nothing more. Even when you break down the individual aspects of the units, there wasn’t anything to write home about. The passing game was inefficient, the running game lacked explosion, the pass rush was non-existent. At least the run defense was solid, I suppose.

For the first time in the era of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs lacked an identity. The team had nothing to hang its hat on each week.

Will that change in 2026? Which areas of the roster are even capable of serving as the superpower for this year’s club? This is something I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about over the past few weeks.

The Houston Texans and Denver Broncos come into the season boasting a ‘superpower’ quality defense. You can throw the Seahawks’ defense into that category, as well, until proven otherwise. The Los Angeles Rams have an offense worthy of that kind of praise. The Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears each hope their offense can rise to that level.

Do the Chiefs have anything that could rise to the point of being a superpower this year?

The pass rush doesn’t measure up against the likes of the Texans, Broncos or Seahawks. The spine of the defense, including defensive tackles Khyiris Tonga, Bryson Eason, Peter Woods, and linebacker Nick Bolton, has the potential to be quite good against the run, but it doesn’t look the part of an overwhelming group.

There’s a lot to like about the potential of the team’s top cornerback duo: Nohl Williams and Mansoor Delane. However, the safeties are merely average, and the lack of a dominant pass rush doesn’t lend itself to a dominant group against the pass.

So this unit probably won’t meet superpower status.

I’m as excited about the Kenneth Walker signing as anyone, but I’m not delusional enough to believe the Chiefs are going to become the 2024 Eagles when it comes to reliance on the ground game. This is still an offense led by long-time head coach Andy Reid; the season will still likely come down to the passing game.

Mahomes, coming off a devastating knee injury, is going to be tasked with once again leading a dominant passing attack. The Chiefs will ask him to do so with Walker as a potential option in the screen game, Kelce as a weapon across the middle and a wide receiver group that includes Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Tyquan Thornton, Jalen Royals and Cyrus Allen.

Is that enough? I think most outside observers would say no, but this is the same quarterback and offensive staff that turned Kelce, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson, Isiah Pacheco, and Jerick McKinnon into the NFL’s No. 1 offense in 2022.

With Mahomes at quarterback, everything feels possible as long as he’s on the field. But what worries me is that the Chiefs might need a dominant pass game to reach the ultimate goal.

The Chiefs are no longer judged based on their ability to get to the playoffs. It’s not about winning the division or winning a certain number of games. Seasons are judged on a pass-fail scale, with an appearance in the Super Bowl as the only real way to pass.

Reaching the Super Bowl will likely require something from this Chiefs team to become a superpower. I’m not entirely sure what that will be, but I’m excited to see how it plays out.