Tough loss to Chiefs shows Broncos’ limited margin for error

After an afternoon in which the Broncos felt like they controlled the Kansas City Chiefs, the two-time defending Super Bowl champions blocked Broncos kicker Wil Lutz’s 35-yard field goal attempt to win the game in the last play. So instead of Sean Payton getting the signature victory of his two seasons with the Broncos, Denver was left with the hollow feeling of coming painfully close but ultimately coming up empty in a 16-14 loss.

“Proud of how they fought, we thought we outplayed them,” Payton said. “But you still have to beat a champion, and we couldn’t do it. Obviously it’s heartbreaking.”

“Our job as a field goal unit is to put the ball between the posts, and we didn’t do that,” Lutz said.

As the Broncos (5-5) continue the quest to end their current eight-year playoff drought, no team has tormented them like the Chiefs, and no player has tormented them like Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Sunday was the Broncos’ ninth straight loss at the Chiefs’ home stadium (2015 was the last time they won there) and the Chiefs are now 13-1 against Denver when Mahomes starts.

Sunday served as another reminder that the Broncos have failed to make progress and have little room for error if they hope to do so. Denver has yet to beat a team that currently has a winning record, and its five losses have come to the five best teams it has played against in terms of record, including the Baltimore Ravens (7-3) and the Chiefs (7-3). 9-0) in the past. two weeks.

Sunday’s loss came despite solid play by the Broncos. They didn’t turn the ball over, recorded more sacks of Mahomes (four) than in any previous game against him, allowed just one touchdown on four red zone drives and limited Chiefs running backs to 38 rushing yards.

“On both sides of the ball, I felt like we were the more physical team,” Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “…I bet you if you asked them about this game, they would see it the same way too.”

However, the Broncos were down by two points when the Chiefs broke through the left side of the Broncos’ frontcourt on Lutz’s attempt to win the game. Broncos offensive lineman Alex Forsyth ended up on the ground so linebacker Leo Chenal could block the kick, and the Chiefs escaped as Super Bowl ring bearers often do.

“Sometimes I feel really close,” Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said. “Feel like you’re there, like you have to overcome that obstacle… Congratulations to them, they’ve just found ways to win, time and time again…

“[It’s] It’s impressive to see that they are capable of that. [that they] “find ways to win and hopefully we’ll find the same way and be able to do the same thing.”

Offensive erosion in the second half provided enough space for the Chiefs to erase the early deficit. The Broncos scored touchdowns on two of their first four possessions on Sunday, taking a 14-3 lead with 6:39 left in the first half after a 32-yard touchdown pass from Nix to wide receiver Courtland Sutton.

But between that touchdown and their final possession, when Nix drove the Broncos to the Kansas City 17-yard line to set up Lutz’s potential game-winner, the Broncos only gained 58 yards on four consecutive possessions. Those possessions ended with a missed field goal and three punts. The Chiefs scored 13 points in that span on a fourth-down touchdown pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce and two field goals from Harrison Butker.

But as Payton has said all season, little mistakes here and there have derailed the Broncos. Sunday was no different, as Audric Estime’s 17-yard third-quarter run, which would have been Denver’s longest of the game, was negated by a holding penalty on guard Ben Powers. The Broncos punted three plays later, a 30-yard boot by Riley Dixon setting up the Chiefs for a field goal that closed them to 14-13.

Before that, a false start as Nix attempted to land the ball late in the first half sent the Broncos back from the Chiefs’ 37 to the Chiefs’ 42. Lutz’s ensuing 60-yard field goal attempt to end the half fell short. .

“We’re close…we have to find a way to make a play when they don’t, make a play that wins,” Nix said. “In this league, that’s the line between playoff teams and teams that win championships and everything in between.

“It doesn’t hurt if you don’t care, it doesn’t hurt if it doesn’t mean anything to you, it doesn’t hurt if you don’t try. Everyone in that locker room is hurt because we do all those things… Eventually everything will go in our favor… one day it will just It will go our way.”

Despite everything, the Broncos are ranked No. 7 in the AFC postseason race, one game ahead of the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. The Broncos host the Colts on December 15 and will play the Bengals two weeks later.

They have three games in their last seven against teams that currently have a winning record. They will host the Atlanta Falcons (6-4) on Sunday, play the Los Angeles Chargers (6-3) on December 22 and host the Chiefs in the final regular season game on January 5.

“Just keep building, keep building,” Surtain said. “…It was right there.”