The Kansas City Chiefs lost their fifth one-score game of the season, falling to the Denver Broncos 22-19 on a last-second field goal.

First Half

The first half saw a game of field goals, as the Chiefs nearly got buried early, but a pair of stops inside their own 10-yard line resulted in just a 6-0 lead before the Chiefs answered with a field goal of their own just outside of the 10-yard line.

Still down 6-3 at the end of the first quarter, the Chiefs forced Denver to punt for the first time all day before Patrick Mahomes went on the second-longest drive of his career time-wise with a nine minute and 32 second long drive, but Kansas City only gained three points as a third drive ended inside the 10-yard line with just three points.

After three drives in a row for both teams resulted in three punts and just 10 offensive plays, the Chiefs would attempt a Hail Mary but fail as the game went into the half at a 6-6 tie.

Second Half

The Chiefs came out of the break swinging as they drove down inside the red zone yet again; however, a forced ball on third and long resulted in an interception, the sixth of the year for Mahomes.

The Broncos would then drive down the field 89 yards for the first touchdown of the game, taking a 13-6 lead and putting Kansas City with its back against the wall. Thankfully for the Chiefs, Mahomes found a little of magic on third and seven, finding Tyquan Thornton down the field for 61 yards before punching the ball in to tie things back up.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs, the Broncos appeared to have found their offensive groove, but were stopped in the red zone yet again, retaking the lead with a field goal. However, the Kansas City offense also had found its stride, as the Chiefs took their second straight drive to the end-zone to take their first lead of the ball game. However, a blocked PAT would result in just a three-point lead at 19-16.

After the two teams exchanged three-and-outs, the Broncos were able to tie it up with their fourth field goal of the day as the ball came back to Mahomes and the offense. Sadly for Kansas City, they were unable to do anything with it, giving it back to the Broncos would convert on a third and fifteen and eventually set up a game-winning field goal with a 32-yard pass to Troy Franklin as the Chiefs fell at the horn 22-19.

Key Statistics

Despite the somewhat defensively oriented game, both offenses, as Mahomes racked up 276 yards through the air, but had zero touchdowns and his costly interception in the red zone.

The running somewhat struggled, as it could not support the Kansas City passing offense all that well, though this could be attributed to the low amount of runs that the Chiefs attempted.

With starting running back Isiah Pacheco out, the work fell on fellow running back Kareem Hunt, who has been splitting snaps with Pacheco throughout the season. Hunt would end the game with 59 yards on 13 carries as the Chiefs ran the ball just 14 times all day.

Tight end Travis Kelce had another good day, although there has yet to be a Kansas City receiver who breaks the century mark in a game this season, as Kelce came up just short of that mark again, pulling in nine receptions for 91 yards. He also made history, becoming the franchise leader for receiving touchdowns in Kansas City Chiefs history.

The unfortunate part for the Chiefs was that, besides Kelce and Thornton with his one big grab, no one was able to eclipse 40 yards in the receiving game.

The Outlook

The Chiefs now sit back at .500 with a 5-5 record as the postseason closes in. The Chiefs, unfortunately, don’t have the tiebreaker for any of the three wild-card teams right now, and winning the division looks nearly impossible now with the Broncos at the top of the AFC West at 9-2.

Kansas City doesn’t have a super-easy road from here on out either, but they need to go near perfect to have a decent shot of even making it to the dance this year. It looks pretty grim for a team that has made the AFC Championship every year since 2018, and fans will just simply have to trust head coach Andy Reid, his staff, and his players to figure things out before it’s too late.