The Denver Broncos’ losing streak against the Kansas City Chiefs has reached an unbearable 12 games. Which players are responsible for the defeat?
The Denver Broncos’ losing streak against the Kansas City Chiefs has now extended to 12 games dating back to the 2015 Super Bowl season.
This loss was much like all of the others to Kansas City over the last 12 matchups between these two teams — the Denver Broncos just couldn’t get out of their own way. Literally.
The Broncos are now 6-6 on the season and still have a shot at the 2021 playoffs, and that will remain the focus over the course of the final five games. Considering how up-and-down this team is, it’s impossible to know what to expect over the final month-plus.
One thing is for certain — they blew a golden opportunity against Kansas City, and it wasn’t the fault of the running game or the defense. Let’s take a look at the players that played inexcusably bad in this one as the Broncos squandered a chance to move into first place in the AFC West.
Teddy Bridgewater let the Broncos down vs. Chiefs
After a gutty performance against the Los Angeles Chargers at home two weekends ago, Broncos Country was counting on Teddy Bridgewater saving his best ball for the Kansas City Chiefs as he did last season in Carolina.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Bridgewater played his worst game as a Bronco since the team’s home game earlier this season against the Las Vegas Raiders. He was careless with the ball and, frankly, he was the primary reason the Broncos lost this game in Kansas City.
That may seem harsh, but it’s accurate for those who watched the game. Bridgewater got the game off to a horrendous start with a three-and-out and a sack taken on third down.
He threw two very bad interceptions in this game, including a pick-six to Daniel Sorenson. How can the Broncos not escape that guy?
Bridgewater’s inept play against Kansas City is particularly inexcusable because of the way the running game was working and flowing. He should have been able to at least help keep balance in the offense but once again, he was off-target on downfield throws and his worst mistakes came at critical junctures of the game.
Diontae Spencer not providing a spark in the return game for Broncos
We can’t say we didn’t try to will something good for Diontae Spencer into existence.
It was about this time of last season when Spencer broke free on a punt return against the Carolina Panthers and took it to the house, likely cementing his job for the 2021 season.
Unfortunately, Spencer’s explosiveness and vision just have not been there as a return man this season.
In this game against the Kansas City Chiefs, he became a liability.
The Broncos’ defense forced a crucial stop at the very end of the third quarter, trailing 13-3 at this point. The offense was obviously not helping at this point, but even then, Spencer has to have awareness of the coverage bearing down, and in this particular instance, he did not.
Caden Sterns and Byron Pringle sparred all the way down the field on a Chiefs punt, right into the chest of Diontae Spencer. The ball obviously hit Spencer and was immediately recovered by the Chiefs who were in scoring position.
That led to three points for the Chiefs once again and those three points were more devastating for the fact that the play by Spencer cost the Broncos a shot at momentum and a shot to cut the deficit to three or seven instead of just 10 or six.
It gave the Chiefs the ball in scoring range and allowed them to dictate the time of possession in the second half.
Broncos inside linebackers fooled by Chiefs’ pre-snap movement
Although the defense doesn’t deserve a ton of credit for this loss, the inside linebackers were the victims of Andy Reid’s game-planning, especially early on.
The offense didn’t do its part, by any means, but after a three-and-out to start the game, the Chiefs’ offense meticulously plodded down the field, constantly taking advantage of the matchups they had on linebackers Kenny Young and Baron Browning.
Covering receivers, tight ends, and running backs is no easy task, but with so much pre-snap window dressing in the form of motion and so many crossing routes and coverages needing to be passed off, the Broncos’ linebackers seemed like they were put into a blender.
Midway through the third quarter, with the Chiefs still up only 10-3 at this point, the Kansas City offense faced a 2nd-and-16 and Patrick Mahomes did what he does best — create off of a broken down play.
Denver Broncos: Teddy Bridgewater definitively proved one thing on Sunday night
The Denver Broncos need to start looking elsewhere for the next quarterback of the team as Teddy Bridgewater is just not the best option.
He escaped the pocket and found running back Damien Williams deep downfield for one of the biggest plays of the game for the Chiefs, a 38-yard catch and run from the backup running back. Baron Browning was in coverage for this play and was burned badly.
As well as the defense played in this game as a whole, the linebackers had a tough time.