All eyes were supposed to be on the superstar QB set to make his highly anticipated return on Monday Night Football, exactly nine months to the day after his 2025 season was cut short by injury.
Instead, it was the star running back who stole the spotlight with an epic performance, just like he did at the Super Bowl back in February.
Kenneth Walker III went off with 191 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns as he carried the Kansas City Chiefs to a 31-10 blowout win over the Denver Broncos.
The reigning Super Bowl MVP and Kansas City’s biggest free agent addition registered more scrimmage yards than the entire Denver roster.
Walker rumbling for the most rushing yards by a Chiefs running back in a game since 2012 took the pressure off Patrick Mahomes, who logged his first NFL snaps since suffering a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee in December.
Mahomes started the game 2-for-12 for 14 yards.
He finished the game 13-for-15 for 170 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception, shaking off any lingering rust that was left over after a long layoff.
Kansas City’s odds to win the Super Bowl shifted from +1600 to +1400 as the fifth choice on the board.
Walker’s arrival, Mahomes’ return, and a spectacular performance by Steve Spagnuolo’s defence has Chiefs fans optimistic about their chances to win it all.
It certainly helps that the division rival Broncos and the Los Angeles Chargers looked terrible in their openers, which brings us to an interesting question.
Is Kansas City clearly the best team in the AFC West?
Are you buying or selling Denver as a playoff team?
Let’s recap some of the biggest Week 1 winners and losers in this Morning Coffee column for Tuesday September 15th, 2026.
Chiefs, Bears Among NFL’s Biggest Week 1 Winners
After last night’s dominant victory, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the market is buying the Chiefs as a legitimate Super Bowl contender this morning.
Sure, it’s only one game, but Kansas City dominated the reigning AFC West champion Broncos from start to finish.
Plus, if Walker unlocks a dominant ground game and Mahomes returns to his MVP form, the Chiefs will be a force again in the AFC.
Kansas City to win the AFC West division title shifted from +150 to +100 as the favourite last night at FanDuel.
The Chiefs win total flipped from over 10.5 +120 to -120.
The market shift isn’t just a Week 1 overreaction.
If Mahomes and Walker are healthy, then I’m buying Kansas City as the best team in the AFC West and a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Meanwhile, the market sell off on Denver might just be an overreaction to one bad loss against a qualify team.
The Broncos to make the playoffs shifted from -172 all the way to -112 in one of the biggest moves of the week.
Denver to repeat as AFC West champs jumped to +290.
As ugly as thinks looked last night, the Broncos had a new offensive coordinator calling plays, a quarterback coming off a serious ankle injury, and a couple of new weapons that clearly weren’t up to speed in Week 1.
One road loss at Arrowhead isn’t too big of a concern.
I just can’t wait to see how long it takes before Sean Payton decides he wants to call plays again in Denver.
The Broncos return home to host the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams in back-to-back weeks.
If the offence doesn’t click in Week 2, I think there’s a good chance Payton shakes things up by Week 3.
The market is buying the Chiefs and selling the Broncos this morning, but what about the early MVP picture?
Josh Allen lived up to the hype as the obvious MVP favourite in a Week 1 win over the Houston Texans.
Now he has a chance to put up some big numbers against a Detroit Lions defence that was just torched by Tyler Shough, Chris Olave, and the New Orleans Saints in a narrow overtime win.
The Buffalo Bills are a 4.5-point favourite at FanDuel.
Allen to win NFL regular season MVP already ticked down from +500 to +400 at FanDuel after the win in Houston.
Meanwhile, a pair of names I highlighted in the preseason are right behind him in the MVP picture.
Joe Burrow to win MVP moved from +1000 to +850.
Lamar Jackson to win MVP dropped from +1000 to +600.
The Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens both have very favourable schedules that includes games against the AFC South and NFC South teams this season.
Burrow responded to the “slow start” narrative with 254 yards and a touchdown in a 33-27 win over one of those NFC South opponents in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Jackson put up even better numbers in Week 1 with 324 passing yards, a TD pass, 40 rushing yards, and a rushing score in a 41-23 win over an AFC South opponent in the Indianapolis Colts.
If you could choose one MVP ticket this morning, which one would you jump on?
Allen at +400, Jackson at +600, or Burrow at +850.
Then there’s FanDuel’s most popular bet to win MVP.
Are you buying Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears?
Williams could be found at +1500 to win NFL regular season MVP entering Week 1.
After leading the Chicago Bears to a 59-37 win over the Carolina Panthers with some video game numbers, Williams to win MVP was cut to +900 at FanDuel.
Chicago’s Week 1 dominance means you can no longer find the same value betting on Williams to win MVP.
Now the question becomes whether he deserves to be in the same conversation as Allen, Jackson, and Burrow.
Sure, the Bears will face tougher opponents moving forward, but some of those opponents didn’t exactly look very good defensively in Week 1.
The division rival Lions and Green Bay Packers gave up 30+ points to offences led by Shough and Carson Wentz.
Allen and the Bills offence looked remarkable against the Texans, but their defence also gave up 31 to Houston.
Apparently, Chicago’s head coach Ben Johnson is serious about breaking the NFL scoring record this season, and I’m not expecting many more games in which star tight end Colston Loveland doesn’t have a single catch.
The Bears have the offensive firepower to put up some massive numbers in Williams’ third NFL season, and a leaky defence could lead to some high-scoring shootouts.
Chicago to make the playoffs flipped from +104 to -134.
The Bears odds to win the Super Bowl were cut from +2500 to +2000 at FanDuel.
Williams was already the most popular pick to win NFL regular season MVP before the start of the season.
After his odds to win that award got cut from +1500 to +900, he’s now in the same conversation as Allen, Jackson, and Burrow as one of four QBs at shorter than +1000 to win NFL regular season MVP at FanDuel.
Williams and the Bears just posted one of the loudest earnings reports in the NFL in Week 1.
All eyes will be on Chicago in Week 2 as they get set to face a much tougher test versus Brian Flores and the Minnesota Vikings defence.
I can’t wait to see where the Bears stock goes from here.
Have a great day, everyone!
