Broncos heartbroken by blocked field goal loss to Chiefs: 'We were right there'

KANSAS CITY — Mike McGlinchey turned around, spotted his rookie quarterback and let out a guttural yell.

Bo Nix had just found Courtland Sutton for a third-down conversion late in the fourth quarter, putting the Broncos in position to slay the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. McGlinchey, the veteran right tackle, pumped his fist as he and right guard Quinn Meinerz embraced Nix. Under two minutes remained after the play that gave the Broncos a first down at the Chiefs’ 17-yard line. The home team was out of timeouts. A couple of run plays, a kneel down and the Broncos would be in position to end a losing streak at Arrowhead Stadium that has lasted nine agonizing years. The Broncos had outplayed the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, coach Sean Payton said afterward, and all they needed was one kick to make that count.

Thirty minutes later, the Broncos were left only to grapple with the most excruciating loss many of them had ever experienced.

“This is something that’s going to be hard to forget about,” cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “We were right 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 only a loss suffered in this fashion could inflict. Evidence of the hurt welled in the eyes of players at all positions and all experience levels. Where words failed, the long stares, puffy eyes and bewildered expressions illustrated the pain.

“Games like this are supposed to hurt, man,” defensive tackle Malcolm Roach said after Denver’s 16-14 loss. “We see the faces on everybody in this locker room. It’s supposed to hurt because we’re so invested, man. Everybody works their tail off every day and we see it. If you’re not invested in it, it wouldn’t feel this way. It wouldn’t feel this bad. We know where we want to go, where we’re trying to go, where we’re fighting to go. We’ve got to give this city something to be proud of.”

The Broncos sacked Patrick Mahomes four times and pressured him relentlessly Sunday. They forced Kansas City to kick field goals on three of its four trips into the red zone. Nix led the Broncos on two of the season’s prettiest drives — both ending in touchdown passes by the rookie quarterback — to stake Denver to an early 14-3 lead. Then, after scuttling through much of the second half, he led the Broncos on a final drive that lasted nearly six minutes, chewing all of the remaining clock before leaving the field. He settled in to watch what he expected would be a game-winning 35-yard field goal by Wil Lutz.

“We gave ourselves a chance,” Nix said. “They just made one extra play.”

In a blink, hope died. Hope of the first win over at Arrowhead Stadium since 2015. Hope a victory that would have given the Broncos a 6-4 record and a huge boost in the chase for an elusive playoff spot. Hope that they had done enough to finally pin 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 open wide, as a delirious crowd roared. Payton said the final play was caused by “penetration from the left side,” but he didn’t delve any further than that.

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

Nix took a deep breath and stared toward the sky. Other Broncos stood in their spots, coming 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 a full-team perspective. I think our defense played their butts off today to hold them to 16 points. We had a couple opportunities in the second half offensively that we could have done a better job with to get the lead going and make the game more in our control. To do what we did on that last drive and essentially do what you thought would end the game — and then, you know, you can’t fall asleep on one play. It can change the face of the game. It can change the face of a season.”

Had the wall held and had Lutz’s kick sailed through — he has missed only two of 34 kicks under 40 yards since joining the Broncos in 2023, and both were Chiefs blocks — the Broncos would have celebrated a resilient performance by their defense. The unit harassed Kansas City’s two-time MVP quarterback and responded after the times in which 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 they 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 only allowed two Chiefs touchdowns in their past two games at Arrowhead Stadium — but they have only two losses to show for it.

“One of the keys was going to be third downs and red zone efficiency,” Payton said. “Man, we did it a year ago really well here, if you recall. They moved the ball but held them to field goals and we were able to do that today.”

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

Had the final kick gone down as it should have for the Broncos, the winning celebration would have included hefty 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 Sunday. 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 6-yard slant to Devaughn Vele and a 32-yard deep ball for Sutton — came on third down.

🔟➡️1️⃣4️⃣

📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/bU0I65Txmo

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 10, 2024

“I thought the ‘Q’ played real well,” Payton said of Nix. “Poised. Gutsy.”

Had the kick made an entire stadium groan, a subplot to the winning story would have been the ever-growing contribution from Denver’s young offensive weapons. Rookie running back Audric Estimé, in his most expansive action of the season, rushed for 53 yards on 14 carries. He figured prominently on Denver’s first two touchdown drives in the first half and ran for 6 yards on third-and-1 to extend Denver’s final drive in the fourth quarter. Vele, meanwhile, caught four passes for 39 yards and his first career touchdown, with two of his grabs made through contract on third down. The Broncos punted on their first three possessions of the second half. Their first series was stalled by a holding penalty and the Broncos didn’t have answers for some of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s third-down pressure looks. Still, in a season that could ultimately be defined by the development of young players, including second-year wide receiver Marvin Mims, showed more growth.

All those silver linings may emerge through the hurt at some point. McGlinchey said the loss “will be more fuel to the fire.” Nix praised the fight of a team that bounced back from last week’s lopsided loss to the Ravens. Outside linebacker Jonathan Cooper, who sacked Mahomes on Sunday one week after signing a four-year contract extension, insisted there would be no finger-pointing as the Broncos picked up the pieces. Surtain noted the Broncos still have seven games, beginning with Sunday’s matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. The teams chasing the Broncos for wild-card positioning in the AFC — Bengals, Colts, Jets — all lost Sunday. Their performance on the road Sunday was evidence, the Broncos claimed, that they can beat anyone down the stretch. The franchise’s first playoff berth since 2015 doesn’t look like some faraway pipe dream based on how the Broncos for the first 59 minutes, 59 seconds against the Chiefs.

But there was no easing the pain Sunday produced by a final second gone wrong. Not yet, anyway.

“The easy thing to do is give in and stop, say that it’s too hard,” Nix said. “I feel like our locker room is going to respond better and consistently find ways to improve, find ways to keep going toe-to-toe with teams like this. One time, it’ll go our way.”

Payton has suffered brutal losses in his career. Anyone who lasts nearly two decades as a head coach will experience his share of them. Payton lost a playoff game on the final play in Minnesota. He missed out on 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 players in the locker room that Sunday’s loss was right up there with the toughest he’s had to stomach.

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

(Photo of  Garett Bolles after Sunday’s loss: David Eulitt / Getty Images)