Sam McDowell: The Chiefs' offense is rolling. But they need to make one change.

Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star on Oct 22, 2026

Published in Football

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes actually spotted the cutback lane before Kenneth Walker did. So in a weird twist, the most accomplished quarterback in the NFL found himself as the lead blocker on a rushing touchdown for the hottest running back in the NFL.

Wait, that’s not really the twist.

This is: That cutback, aided by that block, is the only reason the Chiefs could execute a play inside the 5-yard line.

Finally.

The play design called for Walker to run right, but it was a jumbled mess there — to the point that it’s nearly impossible to tell what running lane the Chiefs had hoped would develop. What unfolded instead was a traffic jam on the right side before Walker cut back left, Mahomes nudged a linebacker off his course and Walker hit the crease and dived into the end zone.

That’s the backdrop for a play that technically worked. Nay, it’s the requirement for a goal line play to work, apparently.

The Chiefs’ offense is rolling right now, leading the league in total yards and yards per play, but there is one exception to that sentence.

It’s been a disaster inside the 5-yard line.

Walker has carried the football 11 times on plays originating inside the 5. He has scored on only two of them. He’s been stopped at the line of scrimmage or for a loss of yardage on seven of the 11 attempts.

So it’s been more than three times as likely for the opponent to celebrate a stop in the backfield as it has been for the Chiefs to celebrate a touchdown.

The Chiefs’ touchdown percentage on rushing plays inside the 5 — the 2 of 11 equals 18.2% — is the second-worst percentage in the league. The Steelers are the only team worse, though they’ve somehow managed to attempt only one run inside the 5. They are 0 for 1.

It’s the strangest thing, isn’t it?

It where the Chiefs should be at their best. The offensive line is strongest, even oversized, in the middle. And they’re blocking for a running back who leads the NFL in rushing, despite playing one fewer game than most.

Walker is on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s all-time rushing record (with a long, long way to go). He has 665 yards in five games.

Why can’t they just get one yard when they need it?

A week ago, after being asked what he discovered during the bye week, head coach Andy Reid was intentionally tight-lipped, but one situation was so obvious that he shared it anyway. It’s the very topic we’re evaluating: short yardage.

But the problem really is magnified at the goal line, where they no longer employ last year’s cheat code in Kareem Hunt.

Walker makes people miss. He has not pushed the pile the way Hunt did. He wasn’t asked to do so last year. He didn’t serve as the goal-line back in Seattle. The Seahawks gave that role to Zach Charbonnet.

The lack of push shows up on a couple of the nine goal-to-go failures. But so does Travis Kelce, Kahlil Benson, Tyquan Thornton, Rashee Rice, Trey Smith and Kingsley Suamataia missing a block on a play here or there. The offensive line, on some of the snaps, simply gets no push, and Walker runs into the back of them like hitting a wall.

The Chiefs have tried to pull blockers frequently in goal-to-go, but it doesn’t develop quickly enough, and it doesn’t move the congestion.

Those little things add up when the field is compressed.

There’s a reason, in the pre-Kareem Hunt days, the Chiefs used to get creative at the goal line. When the quarterback sneak is ripped from the playbook, creativity isn’t cute. It can be necessary.

At one point against the Colts, the Chiefs tried to play it straight up. They gave Walker the ball three straight times at the 1-yard line, and he gained no yards. Kelce whiffed on a block on first down. Benson got shoved backward on the next play. The line got no push on third down.

On Sunday, the Chiefs traveled inside the Chargers’ 2-yard line three times in the span of four possession and scored once. That’s 14 points off the board — a cushion still good enough to beat the Chargers, but an opportunity lost that probably won’t serve them well against, say, Seattle on “Sunday Night Football.”

Which is really what this is about.

It doesn’t subtract from how good the Chiefs’ offense has been — at least 5.85 yards per play in all five games after reaching that number just four times all last year.

It subtracts from their ability to turn that production into points.

That’s all it’s cost them for now — points.

But if they can’t correct it, it could play a bigger factor in the outcomes.

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