Former Seattle Seahawks and current Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III ran wild over five games. Then he ran back into the brick wall that he used to practice against every day.

Stopping Walker was the primary emphasis for the Seahawks’ league-best defense in their 20-3 win over the Chiefs on Sunday, and they exceeded all expectations in pursuit of that goal.

“We [had] to play in waves, because he’s still going to break tackles,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said postgame. “I’m sure he broke a host of tackles, because that’s what he does. So, we had to get people to the football, and that gave us the best chance. I felt the guys play like that; I felt like we played great team defense today.”

Walker entered the game with six rushing touchdowns and a per-game average of 133 rushing yards. The Seahawks hadn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 25 games — a streak that goes back to midway through the 2024 season.

The former Seahawks second-round pick had been unstoppable, but the Chiefs hadn’t faced a truly elite defense yet this season. Seattle is not just a good run defense; it may be the best in the NFL. 

Defense prevailed. Walker turned 14 carries into just 36 rushing yards and added four catches for 21 yards. Neither Walker nor the Chiefs found the end zone the entire game.

“Just getting after him, man,” Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV said of how they stopped Walker in his tracks. “We knew, I mean, of course he’s been here. We know what type of running back was coming in here. But we don’t allow people to run through our defense, and that’s just us, and we were able to execute against a really good running back today and hold him to minimal yards in that category.”

On the other side, Seahawks running back Emanuel Wilson had his best game of the season with 24 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown (4.2 yards per carry). Wilson had averaged just 3.5 yards per carry on 87 carries coming into the game.

The Seahawks’ defense proved it could completely nullify their former teammate, who is currently an Offensive Player of the Year and MVP candidate, and the offense showed that they didn’t need to keep him to win games. Those are major victories for this Seahawks team after snapping a two-game losing streak.

Seattle’s defense was still playing great during the losing streak, but this is another performance their confidence can fall back on as they reach the middle of the season.

“We can play. We can play. We go out there, and that’s our goal: shut you down, shut your lights out,” Jones said of the defense. “So, I think that’s big ups to the defense today. We came out there, executed, and we were able to go out there and stop a real good offense.”