The Kansas City Chiefs are staring at a reality they have not faced in over a decade. After missing the playoffs last season following Patrick Mahomes‘ torn ACL, Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski ranked them 17th in an early 2026 power ranking, a striking fall for a franchise that spent years treating the AFC Championship as routine. The ranking reflects something deeper than just an injury, pointing instead to a roster that barely moved during the offseason and a division that is no longer rolling over for Kansas City.
Will Patrick Mahomes be fully healthy and effective for the 2026 season?
Patrick Mahomes is trending toward a Week 1 return, but that may not tell the full story. ESPN’s Adam Schefter drew a line between playing and performing, warning that ACL recoveries often take far longer to fully manifest than the initial timetable suggests. “The real question will be not whether he plays, but how effective he’ll be,” Schefter said. That caveat matters enormously for a team whose entire offensive structure is built around Mahomes making plays that most quarterbacks simply cannot. Sobleski echoed the concern, noting that the Chiefs are “entering a campaign after not making the playoffs thanks to a non-winning season” and that “the timetable for his return remains up in the air.” Kansas City did add Justin Fields via trade as an insurance option, a former first-round pick who can step in if Mahomes is unavailable or limited early in the year.
What are the biggest problems facing the Chiefs beyond the Mahomes injury?
The injury is the headline, but the roster situation underneath it is arguably the more pressing concern heading into 2026. Kansas City made minimal moves to address the weaknesses that surfaced throughout last season. “From a roster standpoint, Kansas City isn’t significantly better today than it was a year ago,” Sobleski wrote. The addition of running back Kenneth Walker III should help take pressure off the passing game, but it does not resolve the issues at wide receiver. Rashee Rice, the team’s most productive pass-catcher, reported to camp under a cloud after being jailed for 30 days to serve a sentence tied to his felony street-racing conviction, a punishment that came earlier than anticipated after a failed drug test. That kind of off-field instability around a skill-position starter is the last thing the Chiefs need while working through a Mahomes recovery. Sobleski was direct in his assessment: “This squad has a lot to prove and shouldn’t be viewed as a Super Bowl contender.“The AFC West has also grown more competitive. Denver and Los Angeles are both building with momentum, while the Las Vegas Raiders just reshaped their identity around rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Kansas City can no longer rely on division games as a soft landing. As Sobleski put it, “Kansas City must first prove it’s capable of returning to the postseason.”
