Broncos had chances and blew them in 22-9 loss to Chiefs

There have been several games this year that have frustrated me as fan of the Denver Broncos when it comes to offensive play calling and this was one of them - at least early on. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around the frustration expanded to include special teams coaching and overall execution on offense. It was just a dud all around.

The 22-9 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs drops Denver back to the cellar of the AFC West with the Las Vegas Raiders. Meanwhile, Kansas City maintains its one game advantage over the Los Angeles Chargers.

First Quarter

The Chiefs dominated the first quarter scoring on both of their first quarter drives. Patrick Mahomes capped a 12-play, 73 yard drive with a 10-yard scramble for the first touchdown of the game.

They would tack on another field goal after that with the Broncos’ offense opening the game with back-to-back three and outs. However, Denver got things moving on their third drive and were threatening inside the Chiefs’ red zone by the end of the quarter.

This wide open catch and run by Jerry Jeudy finally got the Broncos’ offense moving in this game.

Chiefs 10, Broncos 0. Full first quarter recap.

Second Quarter

The story of the second quarter was an incredible 20-play, 88 yard drive by the Broncos that ended with a failed fourth down conversion and zero points.

They converted two earlier fourth downs too, but a questionable pass play call on third and two led to another questionable run up the gut on fourth and two. We’ll just call that the Pat Shurmur Special.

That was not an ideal way to end the first half with Mahomes getting the ball to start the second half.

Chiefs 10, Broncos 3. Full second quarter recap.

Third Quarter

The blundering continued for the Broncos on offense with Teddy Bridgewater leading a three and out after a huge interception by rookie Pat Surtain, then followed up his second drive with a critical interception of his own to kill another Broncos drive.

Denver’s defense continued to show up, but a good old fashion Tom McMahon Special showed up on the board with a terrible special teams error to set the Chiefs up with fantastic field position to start the fourth quarter.

Chiefs 13, Broncos 3. Full third quarter recap.

Fourth Quarter

That special teams error would lead to another Chiefs field goal to put then up 16-3.

The Broncos offense got things going on their next drive and were driving deep into Chiefs territory, but Bridgewater threw a terrible pick six to put the game away for Kansas City. The rest of the game was played and Denver put up some garbage time points, but at the end of the night they would fall to 6-6.