Mahomes returns from ACL, Chiefs beat Broncos 31-10
Patrick Mahomes returned from a torn ACL to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 31-10 victory over the Denver Broncos in Monday night's NFL game. Kenneth Walker III ran for 173 yards and two touchdowns in his Chiefs debut while Mahomes threw for 184 yards and two scores and also ran for a touchdown.
The game carried extra attention on Mahomes’s surgically repaired left knee after he participated in the entire offseason program and every practice of training camp and was playing nine months to the day since he tore his ACL. He capped the Chiefs’ opening drive with a 15-yard touchdown run while wearing a brace on the knee.
Mahomes threw for 184 yards and two scores while running for another as Kansas City snapped a three-game skid against the Broncos, who ended Kansas City’s nine-year run as division champs last season. “You see that goalline, you’re a football player and you just try and get in the end zone,” Mahomes said after the game when asked if his time on the sidelines had made him more cautious.
Kenneth Walker III carried 23 times for 173 yards and two touchdowns, the most rushing yards by a Chiefs player since Jamaal Charles ran for 226 against the Colts in 2012. The ex-Seahawks running back, the Super Bowl MVP for Seattle who signed a three-year, $43.1m deal in free agency, also had three catches for 18 yards and recorded 14 carries for 89 yards in the first half alone.
The Broncos struggled on offense in the first game with Davis Webb calling the plays; Bo Nix threw for 131 yards and had an interception and a lost fumble as Denver finished with 176 yards. The team’s offseason trade — described in reports as a package of draft picks to Miami for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle — produced just one catch for two yards for Waddle, who also had a costly drop on third down, while Evan Engram had four catches for 43 yards and the Broncos’ lone touchdown.
After Mahomes opened the scoring, the Broncos tied the game on Nix’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Engram. The Chiefs then converted a 10-play, 80-yard drive late in the first half when Mahomes found Rashee Rice, fresh off a knee injury of his own, for a touchdown to make it 14-7 at the break. Walker then turned a fourth-and-one carry into a 60-yard touchdown to start the third quarter.
The teams exchanged field goals later in the third quarter after Brandon Jones intercepted Mahomes deep in Chiefs territory, setting up Wil Lutz’s chip shot, and Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce for a 59-yard gain that led to a Harrison Butker field goal. Nix’s subsequent fumble allowed the Chiefs to put the game away: Mahomes hit rookie Emmett Johnson for a 26-yard gain to set up first-and-goal at the Denver 2, then lined up beside backup QB Justin Fields, took the snap and shoveled the ball to Walker for the score.
“Against this team, you have to set a tone and [our] offensive line and those running back did that,” said Mahomes.
