KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Broncos needed to create a takeaway, but couldn’t. They needed to corral Patrick Mahomes during one of his outside-the-pocket adventures, but couldn’t. And they needed to play a second half of perfect football to win as a two-touchdown road underdog, but couldn’t.
Kansas City’s streak over the Broncos lives.
Barely.
The Chiefs scored only one touchdown, but combined with five field goals, did enough to outlast the Broncos 22-16 Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win, but didn’t finish,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said. “We just needed to do a little bit more, coaches and players alike.”
The Broncos’ defense was lights out in the red zone during the first half, but lacked the game-swinging play.
And the Broncos’ offense got 131 yards from running back Melvin Gordon and two touchdown catches from receiver Tim Patrick, but went punt, punt, interception in the fourth quarter. Their hopes ended on quarterback Drew Lock’s fourth-down interception with 33 seconds remaining.
Mahomes … and receiver Tyreek Hill … and tight end Travis Kelce … and, shoot, the whole depth chart, made enough plays to beat the Broncos for the 11th consecutive time.
This game, though, was different than Fangio’s first three meetings against the Chiefs — losses of 24 and 20 points last year and 27 points in October.
The Broncos led 10-9 at halftime and 16-12 late in the third quarter, but they forgot about tight end Noah Fant, saw receiver Jerry Jeudy catch only one pass and had a third-and-3 pass with six minutes remaining dropped by receiver KJ Hamler.
Fangio elected to punt instead of going for it on fourth down. By the time the Broncos got it back, only 1:04 remained and they needed a touchdown.
“I gave it a strong consideration, but at some point in the game, we had to get a stop and we weren’t able to,” Fangio said. “In retrospect, I should have probably gone for it.”
The Broncos (4-8) clinched their fourth consecutive non-winning season and are headed to a fifth consecutive year out of the playoffs.
There aren’t medals for trying in the NFL, but the Broncos should gain some confidence that the wide gulf between the two franchises earlier this year has maybe closed a little bit.
“The reality of it is, you feel like you’re going to close the gap (only) when you beat them,” Lock said. “There are no feel-good losses in this league, ever. We did play them closer than we have before, but what does that get you? Nothing. An upset locker room. A sad flight home.”
Defeat came not from the thunderbolts usually administered by Mahomes to the Broncos, but by a hundred different paper cuts. A third-down scramble. A back-footed throw under pressure. A down-the-line option sequence.
That’s the thing with the Chiefs. They have so many weapons, so many plays, so many Mahomes arm angles that the smallest little hiccup — in any phase of the game — will prove costly.
The Broncos lived dangerously in the first three quarters, allowing Kansas City to move inside the 20 before the defense bowed up.
At several junctures, it appeared the Chiefs were ready to seize control. They took the second-half opening kickoff into the Broncos’ red zone, but went back to Harrison Butker (31-yard field goal) when the drive stalled.
Would the Broncos respond like they have for most of the year? A three-and-out? A penalty? A turnover?
No. The Broncos converted two third downs and re-took the lead on Patrick’s second touchdown catch of the game (10 yards).
The Chiefs answered with a seven-play, 75-yard drive capped by Mahomes’ 20-yard touchdown to Kelce. Mahomes kept the possession alive with a third-and-7 scramble.
The Chiefs appeared to put the game away on Mahomes’ rainbow 48-yard touchdown pass to Hill, who got behind fill-in cornerback Duke Dawson. But left guard Nick Allegretti was called for holding. Kansas City punted with 9:49 left, but the Broncos punted it right back after reaching their 48 and the aforementioned failed third-and-3 conversion.
Things didn’t start well for the Broncos. Two plays after Fant’s 37-yard catch and run, Lock did well to avoid an unblocked blitzer from his blindside, but in his haste to create a play, he forced a throw to tight end Troy Fumagalli 24 yards downfield that was semi-easily intercepted by safety Tyrann Mathieu.
From then on, though, it was a productive first half for Lock, whose last road game was a four-interception debacle at Las Vegas last month.
The priority offensively was clear from the hop: Get Fant involved. It was as if the Broncos’ offensive coaches took a peak at Kansas City’s game video and said, “We should draw up some of these Travis Kelce plays for Noah.” Regardless of the rationale, Fant was targeted seven times in the first half (four catches-57 yards) and he would have been the big first-half subplot except for Gordon.
Gordon burst downfield for a 65-yard gain. Three plays later, on second-and-goal from the 5, Lock moved left and hit Patrick for a touchdown and a 10-3 lead.
The Broncos, despite all of their good first-half work, escaped with a 10-9 lead entering halftime. Brandon McManus missed a 57-yard field goal, giving the Chiefs field position (own 47) and time (28 seconds). Kansas City, though, wasted precious seconds when Hill started running east-west and had to settle for Butker’s third field goal (23 yards).
“Brandon is obviously one of our best weapons,” Fangio said. “I fully acknowledged and understood at the time that if he missed it, where they would get the ball. But I believed in him. It didn’t work out.”
Didn’t work out for the seventh time in seven tries against Mahomes (25-of-40 for 318 yards).
Lock was 15-of-28 passing for 151 yards. Fant and Patrick had four catches apiece. And the offense was 7-of-13 on third down.
Near-perfection was required against the 11-1 Chiefs. The Broncos were game, but not winners.
“We played our tails off and lost and you go into a game trying to win,” defensive end Shelby Harris said. “My biggest thing is, we can play with the best of them so let’s keep playing like this.”
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