The 2025 Kansas City Chiefs looked nothing like the contender they have been over the past few years, eventually missing the playoffs last season for the first time since 2014. A big reason was quarterback Patrick Mahomes, whose injury made the team’s already fragile situation even more complicated. With days left for the 2026 season opener, Mahomes believes there is a marked difference between the Chiefs of then and now.

“I think it’s just the bad taste that we had from last season,” said the quarterback during the Chiefs’ kickoff luncheon, via Chiefs Digest’s Matt Derrick, when he was asked about what motivated him this offseason. “It didn’t go the way we wanted to, Coach [Andy] Reid talked about that. But we learned from it and we’ve gotten better.”

I’ve worked to get to this point right here to be ready to go for the season,” “Just as hungry as I am, just as hungry as everybody on this stage and everybody in this audience. We’re going to go out there with the mindset that we’re going to be a new version of the Chiefs, that goes up there and dominates the same way the old one did.

That means Mahomes and Kansas City want 2025 to be a blip. The 6-11 threatens to upend everything he and the team have worked for all these years, and they are now committed to doing better.

It was important for Mahomes to boost the fans and his team with that confidence. His own chances of returning this season were not clear when he was fresh off the surgery to his torn ACL. However, Mahomes has given pretty much everything to suit up for the season opener against the Denver Broncos on September 14. General Manager Brett Veach said earlier that the quarterback would take team trainers whenever he traveled out of town during his rehab process, to keep things consistent.

“I think [the Chiefs are] gonna have the healthier quarterback Week 1,” Nick Wright shared his expectations. “Patrick didn’t have any setbacks. Patrick didn’t have any additional surgeries… I think Patrick is gonna rip it.”

The Chiefs have also made changes to attack their problem areas from last season. They brought on Super Bowl champion Kenneth Walker III to their backfield, adding some much-needed dynamism in their offense. The Chiefs also have a talented rookie in wide receiver Cyrus Allen, who could be used in clutch moments.

On defense, the Chiefs show promise. They gambled in the draft by trading up and picking cornerback Mansoor Delane, who was coming off an injury-shortened season at Clemson. But the move has paid off for the Chiefs, because Delane has been quite the competitor in the preseason.

Rookie defensive tackle Peter Woods has already shown his power during three preseason games. The number of snaps he received suggested the Chiefs could use him as more than just depth without making him a full-time centerpiece. The same goes for defensive end R Mason Thomas, who also put himself in the spotlight with his trademark explosiveness throughout the preseason, including a strip-sack against Seattle.

“I don’t think there will be much pushback against the idea that the Chiefs will improve in 2026,” wrote ESPN’s Bill Barnwell. “How much they improve, though, might be the more meaningful discussion. And unless we see a dramatically different underlying level of play from this team, so much of that might come down to those one-score games and how things pan out in the final minutes of close contests.”

The “new version” of the Chiefs’ first test will be against the Denver Broncos on September 14. But everyone in that team, young and veteran, is committed to bouncing back this season.

“Everyone has the same mindset that we want to come in & be what they brought us here to be,” he said after the final preseason game.

Kansas City fans are counting on it.