Walker runs all over Denver, Mahomes looks healthy as Chiefs beat up Broncos 31-10

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — So many people seemed to be focused on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and how the two-time MVP's surgically repaired left knee would hold up in Kansas City's season opener against the Broncos, that they forgot all about Kenneth Walker III.

The reigning Super Bowl MVP won't be surprising anyone else anytime soon.

Walker ran for 173 yards and scored two touchdowns in his Chiefs debut, helping to take some of the pressure off Mahomes in his first game back, and Kansas City exacted some revenge on Denver for stealing its AFC West crown with a 31-10 victory Monday night.

Walker carried 23 times to finish with the most yards rushing by a Chiefs player since Jamaal Charles ran for 226 against the Colts in 2012, the year before Andy Reid became their coach. The ex-Seahawks star also had three catches for 18 yards.

“He did a really nice job,” Reid said, “and you never know going in how many times you're going to give him the ball. That's not a calculated thing. You have to be making yards. For him to play the way he did I thought was spectacular.”

Mahomes wasn't a slouch, either. With a brace protecting his left knee, he threw for 184 yards and two scores while also running for another score, helping the Chiefs snap a three-game skid against the rival that ended their nine-year run as division champs.

“They were in the AFC championship game for a reason,” Mahomes said. “For us to go out and win like that, that's the first step. It shows all the work in training camp paid off. But how can we be better?”

Good question.

The Chiefs helped to make Denver positively abysmal on offense in its first game with coordinator Davis Webb calling the plays.

Bo Nix threw for 131 yards with an interception and a lost fumble, and the Broncos finished with 176 yards of offense, all despite the offseason splash they made by trading a package of draft picks to Miami for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

Waddle had one catch for 2 yards. Evan Engram led the Broncos with four catches for 43 yards and their lone TD.

“As a whole offense, a whole team, we just didn’t play really good,” Nix said.

“Obviously not a good evening," Broncos coach Sean Payton added.

The looming question, even after Mahomes participated in the entire offseason program and every practice of training camp, was how his knee would hold up nine months to the day since he was hurt in a game against the Chargers.

He erased any doubts when he capped the Chiefs' opening drive with a 15-yard touchdown run.

“Once you put him in the game,” Reid said, “he's going to play, and you better be confident in that.”

It was Walker who did most of the running, though. The Super Bowl MVP for Seattle, who signed a three-year, $43.05 million deal in free agency, had 14 carries for 89 yards in the first half alone, along with a couple of catches out of the backfield.

Even when the Broncos tied the game on Nix's 19-yard touchdown pass to Engram, Walker assumed a heavy load as the Chiefs pieced together a 10-play, 80-yard drive late in the half. It ended when Mahomes found Rashee Rice, fresh off a knee injury of his own, and he caromed off a couple of Broncos defenders and into the end zone to make it 14-7 at the break.

Then it was Walker's turn to bounce off a defender, turning a fourth-and-1 carry into a 60-yard TD run to start the third quarter.

“I knew they were going to crash in. When they crashed in, I bounced out,” Walker said, “and I was off to the races from there.”

The teams traded field goals later in the quarter thanks to big plays by each side: Brandon Jones picked off Mahomes deep in Chiefs territory, setting up Wil Lutz's chip shot, and Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce for 59 yards to set up Harrison Butker's answer.

Nix's fumble on the ensuing possession allowed the Chiefs to put the game away.

Mahomes hit rookie running back Emmett Johnson on third down for a 26-yard gain, setting up first-and-goal at the Denver 2. And in the kind of creative — dare say, fun? — play that was reminiscent of the Chiefs' banner years, Mahomes lined up in a three-point stance alongside backup QB Justin Fields, took the snap and shoveled the ball to Walker, who scooted untouched for the score.

It was a play that Reid and his staff found in some black-and-white footage from the 1930s, and it worked flawlessly.

“It was hard to see,” Walker said of the film, “but we worked it over and over in practice. We felt it was going to work and it did.”

Taylor Swift chose Arrowhead Stadium over the Emmy Awards to cheer on Kelce. The pop star married the Chiefs tight end on July 3. Swift, who watched alongside Tom Cruise, had been nominated for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) for “The Eras Tour: The Final Show,” but the category winner — “The Muppet Show” — had been announced earlier this month.

Broncos: WR Marvin Mims left briefly with a hip injury but returned.

Chiefs: CB Mansoor Delane landed on his right shoulder after an interception on the third play of the game. The No. 6 pick in the NFL draft was helped to the locker room and did not return. ... LB Cooper McDonald (knee) left in the first half and did not return.

Denver plays its home opener against Jacksonville on Sunday.

Kansas City hosts Indianapolis on Sunday night.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid looks on during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

Taylor Swift, left, sits with Tom Cruise, center, while watching the first half of an NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Denver Broncos wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) is brought down by Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L'jarius Sneed (38) after catching a pass during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III (9) catches a pass and dives for a first down against Denver Broncos cornerback Jahdae Barron (23) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) celebrates his touchdown run with teammates wide receiver Rashee Rice (4), wide receiver Tyquan Thornton (2) and guard Trey Smith (65) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mixed early Tuesday, after a rtificial-intelligence stocks slid overnight.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 0.8% in morning trading to 63,993.22.

Softbank Group, the Japanese giant that is a major investor of OpenAI, jumped more than 8% in Tokyo morning trading, recouping its overnight losses. That came after OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said in an interview with Fortune published Saturday that the company behind ChatGPT would likely wait until next year for a sale of its stock on Wall Street. That would delay a potential gusher of cash for Softbank and other early investors in OpenAI.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.9% to 8,672.10. South Korea's Kospi was little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to 6,681.32. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.2% to 24,879.69. The Shanghai Composite added 0.1% to 3,889.95.

Also weighing on markets are comments from other leaders of the AI industry that warned a slowdown is needed for the safety of humanity.

“The prospect of a coordinated slowdown in AI development remains uncertain, given intense competition both among U.S. firms and between the U.S. and China,” Ng Jing Wen, analyst at Mizuho Bank, said in a report.

Gains for many stocks outside AI helped limit the market’s losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 152 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.6% after clawing back most of an early loss of 1.3%.

AI stocks have been under pressure a while because of worries their prices shot too high in the frenzy around the technology. The concerns jumped to another level over the weekend after one of the industry’s leading voices, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, called for a deliberate and global slowdown in the development of AI.

He cited safety issues, including the risk that AI becomes capable of leading a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet within six to 12 months.

Nvidia, whose profits have soared because its chips are helping to train AI models, sank 3.4% and was the heaviest weight on Wall Street Monday because of its massive size. SpaceX, which gets a chunk of its business from AI, fell 2% after Elon Musk said over the weekend that he agrees with Amodei.

All told, the S&P 500 slipped 37.00 points to 7,619.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 152.09 to 52,421.20, and the Nasdaq composite fell 146.62 to 26,186.41.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 1.36% to $102.77 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 1.17% to $106.92 a barrel.

Oil prices have continued to climb as fighting in the Middle East keeps squeezing the global flow of crude. An important Saudi oil pipeline will mostly be out of service for weeks following an attack last week, two regional officials told The Associated Press.

The pipeline offered a way for Saudi Arabia to shift exports to the Red Sea and avoid the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian attacks have stifled the movement of oil tankers.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly breached the 5.00% level during the morning for the first time in nearly three years. But the 10-year yield later pulled back to 4.98% after oil prices came off their highs for the day.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 154.81 Japanese yen from 154.30 yen. The euro cost $1.1537, down from $1.1557.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

Electronic displays show financial news on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)