KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the Kansas City Chiefs bolted to a 9-0 first-quarter lead over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, they largely did it with an increasingly familiar formula.

It was forged by five carries, including a 33-yard touchdown run, by the revelation that is Kenneth Walker III. And it was enabled by Patrick Mahomes hitting 5 of 6 passes for 58 yards.

But the start that proved to be all they’d need to beat the woeful AFC West rival 22-6 also featured the improbable reemergence of receiver Xavier Worthy.

His seven catches for 73 yards were the second-most receptions and third-most yards he’s put up in a regular-season game.

Perhaps most to the immediate point, those totals marked half his previous 2026 season total of receptions (14) and more than half his previous yards (133).

Whether because of mere play selection, defensive looks or the fact of there being only “one football,” as coach Andy Reid reiterated Monday, the 2024 first-round draft pick had seemed an underutilized afterthought much of the early season.

Following in the wake of an injury-suppressed but nonetheless disappointing sophomore season, it’s been easy to wonder when — even if — Worthy would reassert the promise he showed his rookie year.

So much so that it’s been amply speculated his negligible production was about shortcomings.

Whatever has caused his rather inconspicuous numbers seemed relevant to ask offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy a few weeks ago.

When I broached what it would take to get more production from him and wondered what’s been going on there, Bieniemy chuckled.

“I don’t think there’s anything going on,” he said, saying Worthy does a great job preparing mentally and physically every week.

With a smile, he added, “You know, we’ve got stuff for him.”

Sometimes, he went on, defenses have answers to that stuff but give up something else.

Just the same …

“Obviously,” Bieniemy said then, “we’ve got to find a way to get a little more creative with him.”

The Chiefs certainly conjured some of that against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Overshadowed as it might have been by Tyquan Thornton’s five catches for 111 yards and gruesome injury, Worthy had four catches for 70 yards that day — including a contested 41-yard reception on a third-and-10 pass that was good for the third-longest regular-season grab of his career.

But with Thornton now out indefinitely and Rashee Rice sitting out Sunday with a hamstring injury he suffered in Las Vegas, Worthy became a fresh focal point on Sunday.

Especially on those first two series, when he had a terrific sprawling reception for 15 yards and another diving catch for 4. Then he made a deft apparent adjustment late on a third-and-2 crossing route that allowed Mahomes to lob it between two defenders for a 15-yard gain.

That was a particularly welcome development with the Chiefs struggling in short-yardage scenarios.

“I feel like they trust me …” Worthy said in the locker room after the game. “Obviously, having the trust of your team is big.”

Most significant is having the trust of Mahomes — who also appeared to be in super-sync with Worthy on the first offensive play of the game only to have it negated by an illegal block called on Travis Kelce.

Heading across the middle as Mahomes settled into the pocket, Worthy initially seemed to settle into the middle of the field before accelerating again toward the sideline.

The would-be 33-yard gain indeed was brought back. But the way it came about seemed to say something about the evolving nature of their connection.

Afterward, Worthy downplayed the notion of an adjustment, per se, but added, “I kind of had just felt space” — and gravitated to it.

In the process, he sent a resounding reminder that there’s still a lot of space for him to make an impact on this team despite the cynical narrative out there.

One eye-opening game won’t necessarily purge that thinking, and no doubt Worthy has plenty more to demonstrate.

But it’s also true that he still holds the NFL Combine 40-yard dash record of 4.21 seconds, still is just 23 years old ... and that last season was marred by the shoulder injury he suffered in a collision with Kelce three plays into the opening loss against the Chargers in Brazil.

So while he went from 59 catches for 538 yards and six touchdowns in 2024 to 42 for 532 and one last season, he also said during training camp in St. Joseph that he was “never 100%” last season.

That led to, he said then, not being able to “run a lot of the things that I would normally run … in the way that I would want to.”

Before that injury, you may recall that Worthy’s last fully healthy game was his eight-catch, 157-yard performance in the Chiefs’ otherwise miserable 40-22 Super Bowl LIX loss to the Eagles.

“He’s always had this ability and can do all of this,” Reid said. “We’ve had the confidence that he can do all that. That’s never been the question. I know I’ve been asked (about his production) a lot, but my answer’s been the same:

“He’s a good football player, and it’s just a matter of there’s only so many plays and so many times you can spread the ball around. Which I think is tough on a defense if you’re able to spread it around.”

At least by all appearances Sunday, tougher yet if the Chiefs get a little more creative with Worthy.

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