Everyone had their eyes on how Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III would perform on his first time back in Seattle. Just eight months ago, Walker led the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl after multiple 100-yard performances last season. Walker capped his run with a performance that earned him Super Bowl MVP and helped Seattle win its second championship in franchise history. 

Going into the offseason, it felt simple. The Seahawks would re-sign Walker after that performance, however, they didn’t. Walker signed with Kansas City this offseason, and going into the game, Walker led the league in rushing and was a clear favorite for offensive player of the year. Kansas City’s reshaped offense looked dominant, with Walker’s downhill rushing attack. He had four rushing games over 100 yards in five games played. 

Then he walked into Lumen Field. Seattle held him to 36 rushing yards, and the Chiefs didn’t enter the red zone once. That’s never happened in quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ career as a starter. So, what happened to the Chiefs? Should we be concerned about this offense? Let’s dive into the film to find out. 

Seattle’s front seven is elite 

This Seattle front has suffocated running backs over the past two years. It hasn’t allowed a single 100-yard rusher in 2025 and so far in 2026. The Seahawks aren’t doing anything crazy schematically; they have good players who are well coached. 

Watching this defense, you see the same mindset in all of them. See ball, get ball. You’ll see all 11 defenders fly across the field to engulf runners the second they try to bounce a run to the outside. 

In this clip, the Chiefs run a counter toward the field side. Meaning you have right guard Trey Smith and tight end Noah Gray pulling around to lead the way for Walker while the rest of the line down blocks. 

Watch how Seattle defensive tackle Byron Murphy II drops his knee to handle this double team from the left tackle and left guard. He maintains his position on the line of scrimmage, and his counterpart Leonard Williams does the same with his long arms. 

Moving to the pullers, you can see Seahawks edge rusher Demarcus Lawrence squeeze down the line, so when Smith gets to him, there isn’t much of a hole. Smith makes contact, and you can see the hole Gray has to pull through to lead block for Walker isn’t that big. 

It forces Walker to bounce this run, and you see the entire Seahawks defense instantly swarm him like a bunch of hawks. 

It’s not just this play; you see multiple throughout the game that show this Seahawks front’s elite play. Some plays it’s Murphy, some it’s Williams, or sometimes it can be defensive tackle Jarran Reed. The depth is all there, which makes this unit so hard to run against. 

Does Mahomes trust his downfield targets? 

Feels like we say the same thing every year – the offense issue. The Chiefs lack downfield weapons for Mahomes, and once again they do. Just looking at the room, it’s clear this unit could use an upgrade at the deadline. Xavier Worthy struggles to catch the ball; Rashee Rice, before he went down with an injury, didn’t look explosive, and Travis Kelce is in Year 14. 

Kansas City doesn’t have those real big explosive weapons downfield. That was Tyquan Thornton, but he went down with an injury. They have interesting young options in Cyrus Allen and Jalen Royals, but neither has fully carved out a role in the offense. 

The only interesting option on the depth chart is second-year receiver Andrew Armstrong, who’s 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds. Armstrong went undrafted in the 2025 NFL Draft, bounced around the league, and found his way to Kansas City. 

In the clip, Armstrong is lined up at the top of the screen. The Seahawks are running Cover 3 with match coverage responsibilities. So, Seattle corner Josh Jobe will follow Armstrong if he breaks anything towards the inside. Armstrong is running a dig route on this play-action from Kansas City, and you’ll see he gets separation at the top of his break. 

Mahomes faces a bit of pressure that causes him to step up, but there’s time for Mahomes to fire this ball to Armstrong. At the last second, Mahomes decides to check the ball down to Kelce, but misses. There was pressure coming towards Mahomes, but it does look like there was slight hesitation to let the ball rip to Armstrong. 

This clip is another example of Mahomes hesitating to let the ball rip downfield. Here on this play-action from under center, the Chiefs have both their outside receivers breaking toward the field. So, Armstrong on the bottom is running a dig, and Worthy on top is running a deep out. 

Seattle is in a Cover 2, so you’ll see Devon Witherspoon make contact with Worthy, then drop back into his cloud responsibilities in the flat. With the field-side safety playing over the top, you can see that when Worthy makes his break, there’s a window to throw this ball into. 

Mahomes loads up, but at the last second checks it down. It could’ve been the pressure coming toward him that made him hesitate, but once again, we’ve seen him make that throw 100 times in his career. 

So, naturally, it begs the question of whether Mahomes trusts his receiving corps. It doesn’t feel like it after watching this game, which should worry Chiefs fans. 

Super Bowl Outlook 

The good news for Kansas City is they won’t face Seattle again until the Super Bowl. Realistically, no AFC rushing defense is as dominant as Seattle’s. Jacksonville, New England, and Denver pose the biggest threat to stop this rushing attack. But none of those teams have Mike Macdonald leading the defense, which is worth noting. 

In terms of the receiving issues, there are some names the Chiefs could look at around the trade deadline to give some juice to the receiver room. Names like Jerry Jeudy, Jauan Jennings, Stefon Diggs, and Brian Thomas Jr. are all options for Kansas City. 

None of them fully move the needle, but they can help to some extent. The Kansas City defense looks stout overall, so they can keep the team in games. Despite one poor game, the Chiefs remain contenders with a strong defense and explosive running attack when healthy.

They still have a good shot at making the Super Bowl, even after this loss. This team is still really good, and once again, they won’t have to face Seattle in the playoffs. As long as Walker can stay healthy, this team will have an explosive running attack. It’s just bout Mahomes trusting him to push the ball down the field.