The Denver Broncos have missed 70 missed tackles this season, which is the highest in the NFL. They also have the worst missed tackle rate in the NFL at 12.9 percent.
That being said, the Broncos' defense missed 24 tackles in the embarrassing loss in the season opener against Kansas City; they have only missed 46 tackles in the seven games after that (12 in the win over KC).
The Detroit defense is the best in the league right now at not missing tackles. They have 15 missed tackles in seven games, or nine fewer than the Broncos had in game one. The Chiefs have 28 missed tackles in seven games (4 per game), or only four more than the Broncos had against them in game one.
The Denver Bronco defense still leads the league in missed tackles and MTKL%, but they had 25 in game 1 and have only had 45 in the 7 games since. pic.twitter.com/zYuPtJUbuZ
— Joe Mahoney (@ndjomo76) November 5, 2026
Broncos' defense has been great at making tackles...except when playing the Chiefs
The Broncos' defense has now faced KC twice, and they were much better in the second game, but still not good. As a defense, they only missed 12 tackles in the second game. Ten Broncos defenders had at least one missed tackle in the first game, and seven had more than one. The only Jones on the Broncos who didn't miss a tackle was Sai'vion in game one.
The Bronco defense has 70 missed tackles and more than half (36) came against KC. pic.twitter.com/jDxISmPgCk
— Joe Mahoney (@ndjomo76) November 5, 2026
While the Denver defense improved against the Chiefs, they still had 12 missed tackles against them in last Sunday's win. That means that more than half of the Broncos' defense's missed tackles this season have happened against KC.
Against the Chiefs vs. against the rest of the NFL so far: 19 Broncos defenders have at least one missed tackle, and almost all of them have the majority of their missed tackles from the two games against the Chiefs.
Bronco Defender | Missed Tackles vs KC | Total Missed Tackles 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Brandon Jones | 3 | 12 |
Alex Singleton | 5 | 7 |
Ja'Quan McMillian | 4 | 7 |
Riley Moss | 3 | 7 |
Justin Strnad | 5 | 6 |
Talanoa Hufanga | 1 | 6 |
Malcolm Roach | 4 | 5 |
DJ Jones | 4 | 5 |
Eyioma Uwazurike | 2 | 2 |
Patrick Surtain | 2 | 2 |
Zach Allen | 1 | 1 |
Jonah Elliss | 1 | 2 |
Taylor Rapp | 1 | 1 |
The Broncos' defense last season had a missed tackle rate of 7.2 percent, which was one of the better rates in the league. The defense missed 85 tackles in 17 regular season games. They have already missed 70 tackles this season and are on pace for 149, but they won't hit that because we won't see the Chiefs' offense again unless it's in the postseason.
The Bengals defense last season was the worst with 170 missed tackles.
The 2024 Denver defense had a missed tackle rate of 6.5 percent. The 2025 defense had a missed tackle rate of 8.2 percent. So this is an outlier for the Vance Joseph era as DC, and I would expect the Broncos' defense to be much better in the final nine regular season games.
With 34 missed tackles in six games against the rest of the league (5.7 per game), the defense should finish the season much better than their current last-place ranking in missed tackle rate. That would predict 121 missed tackles for the season. That would have been in the bottom quartile of the NFL last season.
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