The Kansas City Chiefs lost their second straight game, 28-24, against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, falling to 5-2. The loss pushes Denver into first place in the AFC West standings and should leave the Chiefs scratching their heads.
The Chiefs offense was relatively productive all game, with big plays from quarterback Patrick Mahomes and rookie running back Emmet Johnson.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Chiefs led 24-13, but ended the game with a punt, a missed field goal, and a turnover on downs in the final minutes.
The Chiefs’ offense outgained Denver by nearly 100 yards, but lingering third-down issues and poor situational football led to critical failures in the game’s biggest moments.
First possession of the fourth quarter
The fourth quarter started well for the Chiefs, with running back Kenneth Walker converting a third down and keeping the clock running.
After gaining four yards on a zone-read look on first down, Mahomes narrowly missed Kelce on second down on a pass that would have put the Chiefs at midfield and in the driver’s seat.
On the ensuing third down, Mahomes would go to Johnson, who had had a monster game up to that point.
This look is somewhere between an option and a rollout pass to Johnson. Because it was a downfield pass, right tackle Jaylon Moore was deemed too far downfield, and the officials called an illegal man downfield penalty; meanwhile, Johnson is closer to his best on first downs.
It’s hard to know the series of events on the field, but Johnson was ruled about a foot short on first down, and then Denver head coach Sean Payton declined the penalty, making it fourth-and-1.
There was no play review, but once Payton declined the penalty, it locked in his decision and would have given the Chiefs a chance to make it on fourth down.
The Chiefs punt unit sprinted down the field, where the ball was booted into the end zone for a touchback. Nine plays later, the Broncos scored and converted a two-point conversion to cut the deficit to three with less than nine minutes to play.
The Chiefs will start their next drive on a positive note as they look to drive the ball and burn time on the clock.
With less than four minutes to play, the Chiefs picked up another first down, with Walker and Johnson both contributing against a tired-looking Denver defensive front.
With the run game finally firing, and Denver on the ropes, the Chiefs’ next set of plays was tricky.
The Chiefs ran a screen on Rashee Rice on the outside, which, in theory, would force the legs of the tired defense, but Rice made a poor choice to cut back inside instead of following his blocks to the outside and was tackled only for a two-yard gain.
On the next play, the Chiefs ran a similar look to Walker.
The screen on Walker appeared to be meant to take the defense by surprise, but they quickly moved up around Walker and prevented a bigger gain. The play still gained six yards, and it would have opened up a manageable third-and-two.
The next play and subsequent decision shape the end game.
The Chiefs’ run game was ineffective for most of the game, but Walker and Johnson began to tire the tired legs of the defense.
The Chiefs came out of the gun needing two yards for a first down, and they ran a rollout look, but the play quickly broke down. Walker was responsible for the first man out of the line, but the edge rusher knocked him back, stopping the launch. This disrupts Mahomes’ timing and prevents him from seeing Kelce flash the screen.
With no other open, Mahomes took a costly sack, putting the Chiefs in a situation where going for it on fourth and short was no longer an option.
Faithful Andy Reid trotted out Harrison Butker to attempt a 54-yard kick, and it went wide right.
The Broncos recovered the ball in prime field position and scored on two plays to take a four-point lead.
The Chiefs got one more shot, and it went down in the red zone.
A monster Johnson kickoff return put the Chiefs in business, and it took them four plays to set up a first-and-goal at the Denver four-yard line. After an eight-yard punt, the Chiefs let the clock run from 1:05 to 35 seconds.
A Walker run will move the ball to the one yard line.
Due to timeouts, Denver could only wait, but then the Chiefs used a timeout of their own.
In their first crack at one, the Chiefs went with an old favorite—the corndog—but Denver was ready.
With nine seconds to play, the Chiefs tried to run the ball again with Walker, but Denver was ready.
Denver’s defensive line pinched, and a free runner came through the line to stuff Walker to no avail.
On the next play, the Chiefs appeared to have the win, but a penalty to Moore nullified it and set up a fourth-and-6.
On the last play of the game, Mahomes would take a sack on a bad design.
The play was poorly protected, and none of the Chiefs’ receivers found any daylight against the Broncos’ man coverage.
There was more than one reason that led to this loss, but poor situational football was a big culprit for late-game shooting violations.
The Chiefs’ short yardage turnovers have been an issue, and there is a path to success, but it will involve the team doing something they haven’t done in more than seven years.
The quarterback sneak is one of the greatest plays in the history of the game, and Chies’ blatant refusal to do it cost the team by a freak accident.
Even if the team decides to run plays with Mahomes on the sideline, backup quarterback Justin Fields should be more than capable of getting the job done.
The run game is bottled up, but the decision to run a rollout look that leads to a sack is inexcusable, especially when there’s a hot hand like Johnson ready to go. Running the ball takes commitment, but if the rock is hit enough times it will eventually crack. Relying on one of the worst receiver rooms in the NFL to produce consistently in key moments is not an option.
The decision to allow Butker’s kick, only to put the team up six points may have been one of the worst of Reid’s career.
The inability to score from the one-yard line against a gassed defense with no timeouts, and relying on old tricks like the “corndog” half of the field for a wizard like Mahomes is no longer acceptable, especially when the primary target runs out of bounds.
Starting one of the worst interior offense lienmen in the NFL inexplicably for the second time this season is also intolerable, especially when his body of work does not provide evidence that he has earned a place that speaks, and his backup this week did not play with little context from the organization.
The 2026 Chiefs have the offensive talent to remain one of the league’s best units, and they showed what they’re capable of multiple times throughout the game. Key situations, and bad decisions on critical downs are what separates them from the two game division lead, and the race they’ll join the Broncos for the rest of the season.
Mistakes I can correct, but a plan needs to be put in place for short yardage situations, what to do with Butker, and what the offensive line will look like.
November is here, and as the schedule gets tougher, the games get bigger. It will be worth watching to see how the Chiefs perform as the pressure builds.