The Kansas City Chiefs have had a widely discussed issue running the football throughout the 2025 season. Never has it been more glaring than against the Denver Broncos in a disheartening 22-19 loss that all but locks Kansas City out of AFC West title contention. The run game was yet again an issue for the Chiefs, with Isiah Pacheco on the shelf and veteran Kareem Hunt the only back to register a carry for Kansas City. This showed up in Denver's defensive attack, with the front consistently daring the Chiefs to move the ball on the ground.
Running play-action only works if the defense bites and has some level of fear of the run. For the Broncos, it was clear they didn't believe for a second the Chiefs would commit to the ground game. This was pointed out on X by former Kansas City offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz.
" Denver gave up runs of 5, 7, and 11 on the three under center runs (not counting 3rd and 1) and it doesn’t matter because firstly KC doesn’t do it more, and secondly they know KC is only doing it to take deep shots. It’s a real issue I have with this offense. You have to run teams out of the defenses you’re getting (all designed to take away pass plays) and they refuse to do so."Former Chiefs OL Mitchell Schwartz
Schwartz is making an extremely fair and noteworthy point. The Chiefs' offense has no balance when it comes to opposing defenses' plans for stopping the rushing attack. Denver was openly daring the Chiefs to continue to stick with the run, and instead, they had Patrick Mahomes put the ball in the air 45 times in a game where Kansas City badly needed to control the football.
Ex-Chiefs OL Points Out Obvious Issue Kansas City Must Fix in Week 12
It is especially frustrating when you realize that even with Hunt as the lone viable option for the Chiefs, he still averaged 4.5 yards per carry. This is an extremely productive pace and is indicative of a defensive front that was focused on getting to Mahomes rather than being concerned with an aging back. Failing to make this adjustment falls on the shoulders of Andy Reid and Matt Nagy.
However, there is still plenty of time to correct this frustrating course and begin to embrace the run, no matter the results. Staying dedicated to the run is the core of what Schwartz is pointing out here, in the fact that you demand the defense pay attention. The Chiefs are running the ball so sparingly that a division rival flat out refused to play this aspect of the game.
It took away any ability for the play-action passing game to set up big plays, as intended, leaving Mahomes an uphill climb on offense. The Chiefs need to understand that, as great as the quarterback might be, they won't turn this season around unless they find a measure of balance in the weeks to come.
This means putting the ball on the ground and grinding out short-yardage plays, being content to put together long drives focused on balance and not one quick lightning strike. Doing so will open up the play-action shots and give the Chiefs a balanced attack that better resembles last year's clutch unit and not the current group that appears to lack identity and direction.