Broncos heartbroken by blocked field goal loss to Chiefs: ‘We were right’

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Broncos heartbroken by blocked field goal loss to Chiefs: ‘We were right’

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Mike McGlinchey turned, saw his starting quarterback and let out a guttural scream.

Bo Nix had just found Courtland Sutton for a third-down conversion late in the fourth quarter, putting the Denver Broncos in position to beat the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. McGlinchey, the veteran right tackle, pumped his fist as he and right guard Quinn Meinerz hugged Nix. Less than two minutes remained on the play that gave the Broncos a first down at the Chiefs’ 17-yard line. The home team had no more timeouts. After a few runs and a kneeldown, the Broncos would be in position to end a losing streak at Arrowhead Stadium that has lasted nine agonizing years. The Broncos had defeated the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, coach Sean Payton said afterward, and all they needed was one punt to make it count.

Thirty minutes later, the Broncos were left to contend with the most excruciating defeat many of them had ever suffered.

“This is something that will be hard to forget,” cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “We were there.”

IT’S BLOCKED! @CHIEFS WIN! STILL UNDEFEATED! pic.twitter.com/hMLhAgbRpf

—NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2024

The locker room scene told the story of devastation – the kind that only a loss suffered like this could cause. Evidence of the pain welled up in the eyes of players at all positions and all levels of experience. Where words failed, the long stares, swollen eyes and stunned expressions illustrated the pain.

“Games like this should hurt, man,” defensive end Malcolm Roach said of Denver’s 16-14 loss. “We see the faces of everyone in this locker room. It should hurt because we’re so invested, man. Everyone works hard every day, and we see that. If you don’t invest in it, it wouldn’t feel that way. It wouldn’t feel so bad. We know where we want to go, where we are trying to go, what we are fighting for. 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 make field goals on three of four trips to the red zone. Nix led the Broncos on two of the greatest drives of the season – both ended in touchdown passes from the starting quarterback – to give Denver an early 14-3 lead. Then, after spending much of the second half, he led the Broncos on a final drive that lasted nearly six minutes, completely using up the remaining clock before leaving the field. He sat down and watched what he expected to be a game-winning 35-yard field goal from Wil Lutz.

“We gave ourselves a chance,” Nix said. “They just played one extra time.”

In an instant, hope died. Hope for the first win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium since 2015. Hope for a win that would have given the Broncos a 6-4 record and a huge boost in the hunt for an elusive playoff spot. I hope they did enough to finally catch the team that always seems to find an escape hatch.

It was all extinguished when linebacker Leo Chenal bulldozed Broncos offensive lineman Alex Forsyth and other Chiefs rushed in from the left side. Chenal blocked the kick just after it left Lutz’s right foot. The Chiefs streamed onto the field in celebration. Mahomes sprinted through the end zone, hands wide open, as a frenzied crowd roared. Payton said the last play was caused by “penetration from the left side,” but he did not elaborate.

“It didn’t go in,” Lutz said. “That was my vantage point. We’re still trying to take it all in.”

Nix took a deep breath and stared at the sky. Other Broncos froze in place and came to grips with the heartbreaking reality.

“It hurts,” McGlinchey said. “That would have been a good one. And we would have won it the right way, from the perspective of the whole team. I think our defense did their best today to hold them to 16 points. In the second half we had a few attacking opportunities that we could have used better to get the lead going and gain more control of the game. To do what we did on that last drive and essentially do what you thought was going to end the game – and then, you know, you can’t fall asleep during one play. It can change the face of the game. It can change the face of a season.”

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Had the wall held and Lutz’s kick gone through — he has missed just two of 34 kicks under 40 yards since joining the Broncos in 2023, and both were Chiefs blocks — the Broncos would have had a resilient performance celebrated with their defense. The unit harassed Kansas City’s two-time MVP quarterback and responded as Mahomes created magic. The Chiefs scored a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play at the 2-yard line — a drive that was extended after a questionable illegal contact call on safety Brandon Jones on third down — but settled for field goals on their other three trips inside the 20 yard line, including two inside the 10. The Broncos limited the Chiefs to just 57 yards on 19 carries. The Broncos have allowed just two touchdowns to the Chiefs in their past two games at Arrowhead Stadium, but they have only two losses to show for that.

“One of the keys would be third downs and efficiency in the red zone,” Payton said. “Man, we did really well here a year ago, if you remember. They moved the ball but held them to field goals, and we did that today.”

Mahomes still had his highlights, like when he escaped a potential Nik Bonitto sack on third-and-13 and saw former Broncos running back Samaje Perine for a 31-yard gain. But the Broncos kept answering, their final goal line stand forcing a field goal that gave the Chiefs a 16-14 lead with 5 minutes, 57 seconds left.

Had the final kick fallen as it should have, the winning celebration would have included high praise for Nix, who had more yards per attempt (7.2 to 6.3), more touchdown passes (two to one) and a better passer rating (115.3 to 92) than Mahomes. On back-to-back touchdown drives in the second quarter, Nix completed 7 of 8 passes for 114 yards. Both of his scoring throws in that stretch — a six-yard slant to Devaughn Vele and a 32-yard ball to Sutton — came on third down.

🔟➡️1️⃣4️⃣

📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/bU0I65Txmo

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 10, 2024

“I thought the ‘Q’ played really well,” Payton said of Nix. “Ready. Courage.”

If the kick had made the entire stadium groan, a subplot of the winning story would have been the ever-increasing contribution of Denver’s young offensive weapons. Rookie running back Audric Estimé rushed for 53 yards on 14 carries in his most extensive play of the season. He played a prominent role on Denver’s first two touchdown drives in the first half, running 6 yards on third-and-1 to extend Denver’s final drive of the fourth quarter. Vele, meanwhile, caught four passes for 39 yards and his first career touchdown, with two of his grabs coming via contact on third down. The Broncos punted on their first three possessions of the second half. Their first series was halted by a holding penalty, and the Broncos had no answers on some of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s third-down pressure looks. Still, young players, including second-year wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr., showed more growth in a season that could be characterized by development.

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All those silver linings can surface through the pain at some point. McGlinchey said the loss “will add more fuel to the fire.” Nix praised the fight from a team that bounced back from last week’s lopsided loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper, who fired Mahomes a week after signing a four-year contract extension, insisted there would be no finger-pointing as the Broncos picked up the pieces. Surtain noted that the Broncos have seven games left, starting with Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. The teams chasing the Broncos for wild-card positioning in the AFC – the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets – all lost on Sunday. Their performance on the road, according to the Broncos, was proof that they can beat anyone down the stretch. The franchise’s first playoff berth since 2015 doesn’t seem like a distant dream based on how the Broncos looked in the first 59 minutes and 59 seconds against the Chiefs.

But the pain caused by a last-second go wrong could not be alleviated. Not yet anyway.

“The easiest thing is to give in and quit and say it’s too hard,” Nix said. “I feel like our locker room is going to be more responsive and consistently find ways to improve, find ways to stay in contention with teams like this. One day it will go our way.”

Payton has suffered brutal losses in his career. Anyone who remains active as a head coach for almost twenty years will experience their share of that. Payton lost a playoff game last game at the Minnesota Vikings. He missed a trip to a second Super Bowl after the “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 defeat was exactly the toughest thing he had to endure.

“That’s going to take a while” to get over, Payton said. ‘That will sting. … As a coach, you hurt for your players.”