On Sunday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs braved the snowy conditions at Mile High Stadium to secure their 10th consecutive victory over the Denver Broncos. The Chiefs showed the NFL world they could score in several different ways in today’s game by getting into the endzone on the ground, through the air, on defense, and on special teams.
There was almost nothing the Chiefs couldn’t do as they clobbered their division foe by a score of 46-16. Kansas City’s beatdown began with rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire finally finding his way into the endzone for his first rushing touchdown since Week 1.
Edwards-Helaire broke four tackles as he made his way into the end zone for the 11-yard score. CEH rushed for 46 yards on eights carries and had one catch for 17 yards.
When the Chiefs offense came back on the field, their drive was cut short, as Broncos linebacker A.J. Johnson recovered a Nick Keizer fumble to put the ball back in the hands of Drew Lock and the Bronco offense.
The turnover set the Broncos up in excellent field position as they made their way to the Kansas City two-yard line. From there, quarterback Drew Lock sold a fake handoff and darted towards the right front pylon for the two-yard touchdown. The score would bring the Broncos to within one point after kicker Brandon McManus missed the PAT.
On their next drive, Kansas City extended their lead to four points after a successful 40-yard field goal by Harrison Butker. Butker was three-for-three on his field goal tries and only missed one point after try.
On the following drive, a routine screen pass from Drew Lock to running back Melvin Gordon turned into a total frenzy for the football as defensive end Tyrone Wharton disrupted the play, forcing the fumble and making the recovery, but fumbling himself as he was going to the turf. Afterwhich, safety Tyrann Mathieu came up with the ball to maintain possession for Kansas City. Although, Mahomes and the Chiefs offense went three and out anyway.
Once more, Kansas City’s defense stepped up on Denver’s next offensive drive, midway in the second quarter. Drew Lock threw to his right looking for tight Noah Fant but was picked off by safety Daniel Sorensen, who sprinted 50 yards the other way for the pick-six.
Following a Denver field goal, the Chiefs found their way into the end zone once more, this time on special teams, as wide receiver Byron Pringle picked up a huge block by teammate Marcus Kemp to go the distance, 102 yards for the touchdown. The Chiefs and Broncos traded possessions the rest of the way, and Kansas City went into the locker room with the 24-9 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, Denver fumbled again, this time on a failed flea-flicker, as Melvin Gordon tossed the ball up and over Drew Lock’s head and gave defensive end Frank Clark the opportunity to pounce on the football and allow the Chiefs offense to come back on the field.
Kansas City scored field goals on their following two possessions before finding their way into the end zone to capitalize on another Denver turnover. Late in the third quarter, Drew Lock made another costly mistake, looking for DeaSean Hamler over the middle but instead put the ball into the hands of Tyrann Mathieu for his second interception of the night.
The takeaway set the Chiefs up on their own 39-yard line to begin the fourth quarter. Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City company took three and a half minutes to go 57 yards in six plays and found Tyreek Hill for the 10-yard touchdown.
Mahomes now has 16 touchdown passes this season, and his scoring streak continues to 17-straight games with at least one passing TD. The Super Bowl MVP finshed the night by completing 15-of-23 throwing attempts for 200 yards.
After allowing Denver to reach the endzone for the second time all game, the Chiefs scored one last touchdown with their backups, as second-string quarterback Chad Henne drove the Kansas City offense to the Denver four-yard line before calling his own number on a run-pass-option play to score his first rushing touchdown since 2012 when he was a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The score capped off Kansas City’s 43-16 blowout victory over their hated division rivals and improves their overall record to 6-1 on the season. The Chiefs will now head back to Arrowhead Stadium, where they’ll entertain the New York Jets next Sunday.
