Isiah Pacheco’s Monday output may have quietly marked a turning point for Chiefs
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pacheco regained burst and decisiveness, producing his best game of 2025.
- Coaches eased instruction, restored confidence and increased Pacheco’s snap share.
- Chiefs sustained balanced backfield, but trends suggest Pacheco may lead rushing.
Midway through the first quarter of Monday night’s loss to the Jaguars, Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco followed a hole opened by a combo block from Kingsley Suamataia and Creed Humphrey.
Upon receiving the handoff, Pacheco hesitated for a beat before faking left, juking right and breaking a tackle on the way to his longest rush of the season — a 16-yard gain on a drive that ended in a Kansas City touchdown.
As he got to his feet after the tackle, Pacheco flipped the ball forward, pointed for a first down and pounded his chest twice. On the play, he looked more like the version of himself before he fractured his fibula in Week 2 of the 2024 season — more like the player who showed signs of a reemergence in the preseason.
“I’m having fun, allowing the game to come to us,” Pacheco said Wednesday. “Whoever makes the play, makes it. And it’s good for the team.”
Pacheco’s final numbers at Jacksonville were by no means gaudy, but he finished with his best statistical outing of the season, rushing seven times for 36 yards and catching a season-high three passes for 20. Three of his touches went for 10-plus yards, doubling his season total to six.
“I thought he did a good job,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said of Pacheco. “Not only running, but catching the ball, blocking when he was asked to.”
This season, Pacheco has allowed just one pressure on 12 pass-blocking snaps.
“When we’re out there at practice, being the last line of defense, pass protection is first,” Pacheco said. “Then you’ve got to go out and get into the route. You’ve got a lot of things flying at you, but when you’ve got that trust with the quarterback and you’re that last line of defense, just be ready — eyes open.”
Pacheco remains in a running back timeshare with Kareem Hunt, and through five games, Kansas City has stuck to a near 50-50 split in terms of touches. But Monday night might have marked a slight shift, as Pacheco played a season-high 63% of KC’s offensive snaps, while Hunt saw a season-low 33%.
“(Pacheco) got a little more play time, which I thought was good,” Reid said. “Kind of get him into the swing of things, that helped.”
To Hunt’s credit, he was productive, too, turning his eight touches into 57 yards. Still, the playing-time numbers may have indicated the Chiefs would like to provide Pacheco ample opportunity to get into a rhythm.
In weeks past, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy admitted the 26-year-old may have been pressing. That wasn’t he case Monday night.
“We all had talks with him,” Nagy said. “Just like, ‘Be yourself. Just go play. Don’t put pressure on yourself.’ Go out there, cut it loose, have fun.
“He has an unbelievable personality that’s infectious, and I think, sometimes, when you get in moments where you’re just not having the success you want, you can start to press — that’s human nature. So it’s our job as coaches to just say, ‘Hey man, cut it loose, go have fun.’ And I think we felt that in that game.”
When Pacheco is rolling, there may be no greater “energy-giver” — a term Reid often uses — to spark the offense. And it’s something the fourth-year back prides himself on.
“You got to love this,” Pacheco said. “You gotta love it, and that’s the mentality you got to carry. Throughout the season it gets tougher, but if everybody’s on the same mission, the same page and we’re all buying in, it just makes each other stronger.”
The Chiefs are strongest when Pacheco looks like the runner he was in 2022-23. Quietly, that may be starting to happen here in 2025.
