It didn’t take long for Christian McCaffrey to have an impact in his return.
McCaffrey, playing for the first time since Week 2 when he sprained an ankle, touched the ball six times on the Panthers’ opening drive.
He had four carries for 18 yards and two catches for 16 yards and a touchdown.
His 9-yard touchdown pass from Teddy Bridgewater came on fourth-and-three.
If the Panthers are going to hang with the Chiefs, they will need more of that. They took 15 plays to go 75 yards and ate up 8 minutes, 53 seconds. It was the longest drive time-wise for the Panthers since Week 7 of 2017.
Carolina leads 7-0, with Patrick Mahomes now getting his first chance of the day.
McCaffrey led the league with 403 touches for 2,392 yards and 19 touchdowns last season.