If the 2025 Chiefs have left you feeling underwhelmed through the first three games of the season, Sunday’s absolute no-doubter against the Baltimore Ravens probably erased some of that. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows—Baltimore’s opening-drive touchdown being followed by a promising Chiefs red-zone visit turned field goal, something we had become all too familiar with, may have sparked some familiar negativity in fans. A sense of “not this again!” But those thoughts were quickly stifled by 20 unanswered Kansas City points in a game that never felt close once Kansas City got going.

To say that Kansas City’s offense looked rejuvenated with the return of wide receiver Xavier Worthy would be an understatement. Worthy returned and was immediately the Chiefs’ best and most dynamic offensive weapon, and his presence seemed to elevate the energy and performance of many of his offensive teammates, albeit against a tremendously injury-plagued Baltimore defense. Patrick Mahomes felt the relief more than anyone, tossing four touchdown passes for the first time since October 2023. His second of four was the 250th of his career, making him the youngest player to reach that threshold.

Defensively, the Chiefs once more did something that fans are increasingly beginning to underappreciate. Lamar Jackson is an indefensible quarterback, and the Ravens’ running attack is arguably the best in the league. The Chiefs once again completely flustered Jackson and shut down the Ravens’ rushing attack. At this point, Steve Spagnuolo’s title of defensive coordinator seems like an undersell. His ability to tie opposing offenses’ hands behind their backs and dial up pressure without sacrificing back-end coverage is not just masterful—it’s borderline magical.

When Mahomes and Spags are both dealing like they were on Sunday, games tend to be a little less stressful. The Chiefs easily extended their dominance over the Jackson-led Ravens, with Mahomes now holding a 6-1 career record against a guy who has to be considered a ward of the Kingdom at this point. The barrage of Chiefs offense, coupled with a relentless defensive effort, left Jackson on the sidelines with an elastic strap pressing a towel against his right hamstring late in the game, citing a “hamstring issue” that brought Cooper Rush into the action in what certainly felt like a white-flag moment from Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.

With the Chargers losing to the New York Giants earlier in the day, Kansas City’s win pushes them back to .500 and puts them only a game back of the Chargers in the AFC West. Los Angeles lost offensive tackle Joe Alt in the process, which makes the Chiefs sneaking back up on them that much more painful for the dozens of Charger fans out there. All of a sudden, the AFC West seems to be right-sizing itself, and it would appear the rumors of the Chiefs (and Mahomes) demise may have been greatly exaggerated.

There’s not much room for chest pounding after a big win against Baltimore as the Chiefs head to Jacksonville to take on the 3-1 Jaguars next week on Monday Night Football. This revived Chiefs offense will face off with a Jaguars defense that has forced three or more turnovers in every game this season. But we can certainly overreact to some of what we saw on Sunday.

Arrowhead Stadium is without question the NFL’s best homefield advantage

I wrote last week about the chemistry changing in the air around Arrowhead Stadium when big opponents like the Ravens come to town, and the home crowd did not disappoint on Sunday. This was as close to a do-or-die game as the Chiefs could have had in Week 4 of any season, and the sense of urgency that the team surely had to ensure they came out victorious was met or exceeded by the fans in attendance at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The only places on the planet where you can find atmospheres on the same plane as Arrowhead are in the southeastern United States on Saturday afternoons and in Europe during the other football’s matches. That’s it—and when Arrowhead is rocking, the other venues can’t compete. It was rocking Sunday to the point where the Ravens offense was genuinely stunted by it.

In the span of just over a minute of actual game time and maybe five minutes of real time, the crowd at Arrowhead was rocking so intensely that Lamar Jackson was called for two delay-of-game penalties, stalling a Ravens drive that ended with a punt to Kansas City. The Chiefs would go 56 yards in just five plays on their subsequent drive, capturing a lead they would not let go of for the remainder of the afternoon. Steve Spagnuolo’s beautifully orchestrated defensive game plan rattled Jackson, and Arrowhead Stadium shut him down.

There is nothing that compares to Arrowhead in the NFL. You can tweet all the pictures of shot-skis and videos of idiots driving other idiots through tables all you want. Once the fans file in and have to make a difference, no fan base compares to Chiefs fans. The legend of Arrowhead grows by the day.

The Ravens are the worst team the Chiefs have played in 2025

You can’t technically classify this heading as “clickbait” because you’ve already clicked in to read this blog, but it is an admittedly clickbait-adjacent lead-in to this overreaction. This is not a shot at the Ravens or the lack of heart they showed in waving the white flag late in the third quarter on Sunday. This isn’t a slam poetry jam on Lamar Jackson for coming up with an injury that can’t be proven or disproven to pull himself out of once more being in hell against the Chiefs. It’s none of those things. It’s actually an acknowledgment of how badly the Ravens were hobbled coming into this game.

Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers—all those guys were healthy. The Ravens offense was basically the same unit that scored 30 against the Lions last week and looked strong-ish doing it, albeit while still turning the ball over multiple times against Detroit. But the Ravens defense was absolutely gutted up front and endured some pretty substantial losses (Roquan Smith and Marlon Humphrey) in the process of being abused by the Chiefs offense. The Ravens roster is one of the best in the NFL when healthy, but Baltimore was far from it on Sunday.

The Chiefs began the year with the Chargers and Eagles in back-to-back weeks, and while the Week 3 opponent, the New York Giants, isn’t one of the more compelling squads in the NFL, you could argue that the Giants in the state in which the Chiefs found them were far stiffer defensively than this skeleton of the Ravens’ once-proud defense.

The bottom line is that the game looked easy for Kansas City on both sides of the ball on Sunday. A lot of that has to do with the Chiefs gelling and getting some key pieces back into the fold. But some of it has to do with how brutally handicapped Baltimore is at the moment. The Ravens will need to hope for quick healing on many fronts, or their season will go off the rails quickly.

The Chiefs are so back, and they’re only going to get more back

Xavier Worthy was all over the field, Isiah Pacheco ran like a madman, Breshard Smith made an impact for the first time all year, and Patrick Mahomes threw four touchdown passes to four different receivers. The Chiefs defense confused and abused Lamar Jackson into submission, and the Chiefs beat the Ravens in leave-no-doubt fashion in an essentially must-win situation. Say it with me: “The Chiefs are back!”

That was dominant, that was fun, that was Chiefs football. That is what Chiefs fans have become accustomed to seeing since 2018. That is what has, in one form or another, won three Super Bowls in the last six seasons. There were parts of this game that were so primally satisfying that the feelings of apathy and frustration that were so omnipresent throughout the first three weeks of the season disappeared completely, as if they never existed in the first place. Who cares if the Chiefs started 0-2? It’s a brand-new season now, and the Chargers are only a game up. This team has a very realistic shot to be at or near the top of the AFC standings at season’s end.

And it’s only going to get better. In the second half of the Chiefs’ win over the Giants, it was clear that Patrick Mahomes was beginning to develop real chemistry with Tyquan Thornton, Hollywood Brown, and the receiving options he had at his disposal without Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice in the mix. Against Baltimore, Worthy’s return was immediately impactful to the offense in a massive way. And we’re now just two weeks away from the return of top wideout Rashee Rice. This is only going to get better.

Injuries will inevitably happen. There could be a “too many chefs in the kitchen” aspect to the Chiefs offense being at full force—something that could seem problematic now, but was such a pipe dream not so long ago that it’s almost hard to comprehend. But the Chiefs offense is going to soon be clicking on cylinders that fans have not seen in quite a few years, and with the defense playing the way it has to begin the year, we are in for an absolute powerhouse to be unleashed on the rest of the NFL. The rumors of the Chiefs’ demise were greatly exaggerated. I hope you all kept the receipts of those who declared the dynasty dead.