KANSAS CITY, Mo.— The last time thousands of fans had entered these iconic confines, it was camouflaged as “Kansas City Stadium” amid the fever pitch of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The mesmerizing juxtaposition of colors and cultures and sights and sounds from the customary scene was punctuated July 11 by the sixth and final match here, Argentina’s 3-1 victory over Switzerland.

The structural and cosmetic makeover, which included covering up such distinguishing elements as the Ring of Honor encircling the stadium interior, effectively rendered it generic with the other 15 host stadiums.

Just over a month later, though, here were the Chiefs on Saturday playing host to the Los Angeles Rams in their 2026 preseason opener in the venerable venue largely re-retrofitted to its distinct traditional appearance — all the more visible with so many seats open for the dull affair.

Once more, it was Arrowhead Stadium — down to its true name being restored, sans the sponsorship attached the last several years.

But it’s another matter whether the Chiefs also will resume their dynastic ways here this season, a matter for which Saturday furnished scant data given the vanilla and risk-averse measures each team took.

While the Chiefs perhaps achieved some vague baseline tone even in a 20-12 loss, little was revealing beyond how they are cultivating depth — including that rookie receiver Cyrus Allen is increasingly intriguing, rookie running back Emmett Johnson has some vision and burst and rookie quarterback Garrett Nussmeier is smooth.

Otherwise on offense, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and Trey Smith didn’t step on the field.

Reigning Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III came on for the first play but didn’t have a touch.

On the other side of the ball, Chris Jones took one snap. Presumptive key defenders Drue Tranquill, Chamarri Connor, Mansoor Delane, L’Jarius Sneed and Ashton Gillotte didn’t play.

Most other fixtures, as ever in a preseason opener, were in for a smattering of plays.

So the mystery remains about whether the 6-11 fiasco last season was a blip or the end of an era — a question underscored by the Chiefs entering their final stretch at Arrowhead before embarking in 2031 to Kansas and the Mahomes Dome or whatever they’ll call the new $3 billion-plus stadium.

Will they arrive there basking in further glory, like through another flurry of AFC Championship Games at Arrowhead, or in need of a reset?

That answer is a long way off, of course, but it begins now.

And the scenario is no more immediately clear than it was the last time the Chiefs played here: a dismal 20-13 Christmas Day defeat against Denver as they dropped eight of their final nine games, culminating with a loss at Las Vegas a week later.

Still, the greatest X-factors sure seem evident.

At least for the time being as they prepare to open the season Sept. 14 against the visiting Denver Broncos.

And especially when it comes to an offense that went from perennially near the top of the league to 15th, 15th and 21st the last three years.

Nothing looms larger, naturally, than the timing and nature of the return of Mahomes from knee surgery.

While he’s looked great and is on an apparent trajectory to start the opener, as The Kansas City Star’s Sam McDowell drilled into last week, he still doesn’t quite have what he called “that go” as he scrambles. And he subtly acknowledged he’s still waiting “to get that OK” for Week 1.

For all that, given Mahomes’ resilient history and sheer will it’s hard to doubt he’ll be back by then … but easy to wonder just how much of himself he can immediately be.

Particularly with Rice off to a sluggish start in camp as he recovers from offseason arthroscopic knee surgery, Worthy again contending with a shoulder injury and Kelce turning 37 less than a month into the season.

The need for Mahomes to be the be-all, of course, is supposed to be obviated by the arrival of Walker, the reigning Super Bowl MVP running back who figures to revive a dimension of the Chiefs’ offense they’ve seldom enjoyed since Kareem Hunt’s 2017 and 2018 seasons.

But taking proper advantage of that, and taking heat off Mahomes, means coach Andy Reid embracing a certain shift in scheme and philosophy — a topic that’s come up often enough over the last few weeks that Reid recently sarcastically said they’re going to run the ball every play now.

More illuminating, though, was Mahomes’ reply when he asked what has stood out most to him in terms of offensive changes so far in camp.

Alluding to Walker’s No. 9 jersey, Mahomes smiled and said, “That’s all I can say. That right there, that change and the ability to catch, run, pass protect, do everything, make a play out of nothing into a 20-yard gain, that’s going to be the biggest impact I think we’ll have.”

With at least six new base starters on defense, including three in the secondary, there’s plenty to wonder about on that side of the ball. Maybe all the more so since cornerbacks Delane, selected sixth overall in the 2026 NFL draft, and Sneed have yet to be full participants in practice.

That’s a lot of flux to add onto for a unit that last season had issues generating a pass rush: Only six teams had fewer than the Chiefs’ 35 sacks.

But it’s noteworthy that Steve Spagnuolo’s Chiefs defenses have faced transitions before and typically thrived after some adjustment period. In fact, they’ve finished in the top 10 in points allowed in six of Spagnuolo’s seven seasons.

All of that will be part of the equation, and, more likely than not, will lead to solutions and a return to postseason contention.

Seems to me, anyway.

Something else yet, though, will be the defining dividing line.

As the Chiefs were storming to their third straight Super Bowl and fifth in six seasons only two years ago, they manufactured an uncanny stat in their favor:

As of beating the Bills 32-29 in the 2024 AFC Championship Game, the Chiefs had won an NFL-record 17 straight one-score games.

That included 11 in the 2024 regular season, a crazy development that reflected some combination of making their own luck and actual flukes that suggested they enjoyed an intangible winning edge.

Last season, they went 1-9 in one-score games ... which suggested that edge was fickle.

The difference likely is multifold and surely part of a cumulative effect of compressed offseasons after playing 21 postseason games in the previous seven seasons. Etc.

But it’s part of why the Chiefs wanted Eric Bieniemy back as offensive coordinator. They want to try to resuscitate the aspect of themselves that sometimes seemed like magic, but had a lot more to do with grit.

Bieniemy’s “intensity is infectious,” Kelce said at camp last week, later adding: “It’s one of those things that I think we really missed here in Kansas City.”

That wasn’t on anyone specifically, Kelce added, but it included himself and at least in a sense everyone collectively.

All of that and more makes for an enticing season ahead, and a lot to wonder about, with the 2026 Chiefs … and their capacity to add more luster to Arrowhead’s legacy in its twilight years.

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