The Kansas City Chiefs are in the midst of enjoying a well-deserved early Week 5 bye after winning each of their first four games and capturing the best record in the AFC. Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and company have already won roughly 66 percent of their games last year, when they went 6-11. It increasingly looks like the 2025 season was a painful blip on an otherwise incredible 10-year streak of dominance over the rest of the NFL.
While there are a number of reasons that the Chiefs find themselves undefeated, there is one key stat that explains it perhaps more succinctly than anything else. Kansas City is tied for second in the league with a turnover margin of +5. They have surrendered the ball on offense just twice and have forced seven takeaways on defense and special teams.
KC is one of just three teams with a margin of +4 or higher. It seems like every game, there is a turnover forced by the defense that changes the complexion of the game, or even a fumble forced by special teams this past week on a punt return that played a massive part in the Chiefs closing that game out.
Forcing turnovers hasn't been the Chiefs' strong suit in years past, but so far in 2026, a complete 180-degree turn has helped Kansas City remain unbeaten
It's a welcome sight to see after a couple of years of ranking toward the lower third in forced turnovers, as well as coughing the football up on more than just a few occasions. While turnovers can be a fickle stat, similar to sacks, being able to threaten teams with the ability to do so is what is most important. And this young Chiefs defense is only going to improve as the season goes on.
To give some context to what a great start the Chiefs defense has gotten off to in terms of takeaways is that last year, they had 14 total. So far this year, they already have half that. The Chiefs ranked middle of the pack with an overall -1 turnover margin, which certainly played a part in them losing so many close games in 2025.
Every game aside from Week 1, the Chiefs have found themselves in a one-possession game at some point during the fourth quarter, and it's been their innate ability to flip the field by taking the ball away and then keeping it for a score.
Two rookies, Mansoor Delane and Xavier Nwankpa, have each tallied their first career interceptions, along with George Karlaftis' lone pick of his career and Kristian Fulton's sole takeaway in a Chiefs jersey. KC has also recovered three forced fumbles, with one of them being a Jeffrey Bassa punch-out on special teams.
The offense has turned the ball over just twice, courtesy of a pair of Mahomes interceptions, one of which was a complete gift to the Dolphins with the way the ball bounced off Rashee Rice's hands, and the other a miscommunication with Xavier Worthy in Week 1. Other than that, it's been a clean bill.
Let's hope the turnover margin only increases as the year goes on. But even if it doesn't and stays relatively the same or even dips, if the Chiefs can continue to force offenses to put the football in harm's way, they will win a lot of football games.
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