KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mike McGlinchey turned around, spotted his rookie quarterback, and screamed.
Bo Nix found Courtland Sutton for a third down conversion late in the fourth quarter and put the Denver Broncos in position to kill the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. McGlinchey, a veteran right tackle, pumped his fist as he hugged Nix along with right guard Quinn Meinerz. Less than two minutes remained in the game when the Broncos had a first down at the Chiefs’ 17-yard line. The home team’s timeout has expired. With a few run plays and a kneecap, the Broncos will be in position to end a nine-year Arrowhead Stadium losing streak. The Broncos outscored the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, coach Sean Payton said afterward. And all they needed was one kick to make the result count.
Half an hour later, the Broncos suffered the most crushing loss many have ever experienced.
“This is something that’s hard to forget,” cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “We were right there.”
Blocked! @Chiefs win! Still undefeated! pic.twitter.com/hMLhAgbRpf
— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2024
The locker room scene told a devastating story. The kind of loss only suffered in this way could have been inflicted. There was evidence of hurt in the eyes of players at every position and at every level of experience. In places where language was not communicated, pain was expressed through long gazes, swollen eyes, and bewildered expressions.
“Games like this are going to hurt,” defensive tackle Malcolm Roach said of Denver’s 16-14 loss. “We see the faces of everyone in this locker room. It would hurt because we were so invested. Everyone works hard every day and we see it. You wouldn’t feel this way if you hadn’t invested. I don’t think it’ll be this bad. We know where we want to go, where we are trying to get there, and where we are fighting to get there. We have to give this city something to be proud of.”
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The Broncos sacked Patrick Mahomes four times and pressured him relentlessly. They forced Kansas City to kick three field goals in four trips to the red zone. Nix led the Broncos on two of their most beautiful drives of the season (both ending with touchdown passes from the rookie quarterback) and put Denver ahead 14-3. Then, after making quick work of most of the second half, he chewed up all the remaining clock before leaving the field, leading the Broncos on a final drive that lasted nearly six minutes. He settled in to watch Wil Lutz’s 35-yard field goal that he expected would win the game.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Nix said. “They just had one extra play.”
In the blink of an eye, hope disappeared. Hopes of getting their first win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium since 2015. Hopes for a win that would give the Broncos a 6-4 record and a major boost in their chase for an elusive playoff spot. I hope we’ve done enough to finally pin down a team that always seems to be looking for a way out.
It all went away when linebacker Leo Chenal pushed Broncos offensive lineman Alex Forsyth down and another Chiefs rushed in from the left. Chenal blocked the kick left by Lutz’s right foot. The Chiefs streamed onto the field to celebrate. Mahomes sprinted through the end zone with his hands wide open amidst a cheering crowd. Payton said the final play was caused by a “penetration down the left side,” but didn’t dig any deeper.
“It didn’t go in,” Lutz said. “That was my vantage point. “We are all still trying to come to terms with it.”
Nyx took a deep breath and looked at the sky. Other Broncos stood there and faced the heartbreaking reality.
“It hurts,” McGlinchey said. “That would have been nice. And from the perspective of the whole team, we probably won in the right way. I think our defense did their best today to keep it to 16 points. We had a few opportunities offensively in the second half and could have done better to take the lead and have more control of the game. Doing what we did on the last drive and essentially doing what we thought was going to end the game. And as you know, you can’t fall asleep in one playthrough. It can change the look of your game. “It can change the appearance of the seasons.”
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Had the wall been guarded and Lutz’ kicks gone through (he has missed only two of 34 kicks under 40 yards since joining the Broncos in 2023, both of which were Chiefs blocks), the Broncos would have celebrated a resilient performance by their defense. The unit harassed Kansas City’s two-time MVP quarterback and responded as Mahomes created some magic. The Chiefs scored a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play from the 2-yard line. That drive was extended after a questionable illegal contact call on safety Brandon Jones on third down, but three other trips inside resulted in field goals. 20 yard line with 2 inside the 10. The Broncos limited the Chiefs to just 57 yards on 19 carries. The Broncos have allowed just two Chiefs touchdowns in their last two games at Arrowhead Stadium, but have only two losses to show for it.
“One of the keys is going to be third down and red zone efficiency,” Payton said. “Hey, if you remember, we did really well here a year ago. They moved the ball but couldn’t make a field goal and we were able to do that today.”
Mahomes still had his highlights, like when he escaped a sack by Nik Bonitto on third-and-13 and found former Broncos running back Samaje Perine for a 31-yard gain. But the Broncos continued to respond, forcing a field goal that gave the Chiefs a 16-14 advantage when their final goal line hit came with 5:57 left.
If the final kick went down as expected, the victory celebration would have been full of praise for Nix, who had more yards per attempt (7.2 vs. 6.3), more touchdown passes (2 vs. 1) and a better passer rating (115.3 vs. 6.3). It would have been included. 92) Better than Mahomes. On back-to-back touchdown drives in the second quarter, Nix completed 7 of 8 passes for 114 yards. Two of his scoring throws in that stretch – a 6-yard slant to Devaughn Vele and a 32-yard deep ball to Sutton – fell on third down.
🔟➡️1️⃣4️⃣
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/bU0I65Txmo
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 10, 2024
“I thought ‘Q’ worked really well,” Payton said of Nix. “Attitude. “Guts.”
If the kick had the entire stadium groaning, the subplot of the victory story would have been the ever-increasing contributions of Denver’s young offensive weapons. Rookie running back Audric Estimé had his most extensive action of the season, rushing for 53 yards on 14 carries. He was a standout on Denver’s first two touchdown drives of the first half and ran for 6 yards on third-and-1 to extend Denver’s final drive in the fourth quarter. Belle, meanwhile, caught four passes for 39 yards and his first career touchdown, two of which came via contact on third downs. The Broncos punted on their first three possessions of the second half. Their first series was stopped due to a holding penalty and the Broncos had no answer for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s third down pressure look. Still, in a season that can be defined by growth, young players, including second-year wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr., showed further growth.
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All those silver linings can show up through the wound at some point. McGlinchey said the loss would “just be more fuel for the fire.” Nix praised the team’s fight to bounce back from last week’s lopsided loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Outside linebacker Jonathan Cooper, who fired Mahomes a week after signing a four-year contract extension, insisted there will be no blame while the Broncos work out the issues. Surtain noted that the Broncos still have seven games to play, starting with Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. The Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets, teams chasing the Broncos for a wild-card spot in the AFC, all lost on Sunday. Their performance on the road, the Broncos argued, was proof they could beat anyone. The franchise’s first playoff berth since 2015 doesn’t seem like a distant dream based on how the Broncos looked for the first 59 minutes and 59 seconds against the Chiefs.
But that didn’t ease the pain caused by a last-minute mistake. Not yet, anyway.
“The easiest thing to do is to give up and stop. Say it’s too difficult,” Nix said. “I think our locker room will respond better and continue to find ways to improve and continue to compete against these teams. “For once, things will go our way.”
Payton suffered a serious loss in his career. Anyone who has been a director for almost 20 years will have experienced their share of that. Payton lost a playoff game on the Minnesota Vikings’ final play. He missed his second Super Bowl appearance after a NOLA no-call in the 2018 NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams. He told the players in the locker room that Sunday’s loss was the hardest he could ever handle.
“It’s going to take some time to get over it,” Payton said. “That person will sting. … As a coach, you hurt your players.”
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(Photo of Garett Bolles after Sunday’s loss: David Eulitt / Getty Images)
