Kansas City Chiefs 19, Denver Broncos 8
Per Scorigami, this was just the second time in history a game ended with a score of 19-8. The only other time occurred on October 12, 1927, or in other words exactly 96 years to the day that the Chiefs defeated the Broncos 19-8 on Thursday Night Football — on October 12, 2023.
Very similarly to the brief recap I put forth after Kansas City beat the Bears 41-10 a few weeks ago, there is little to glean from a win against the Broncos. Unironically Denver’s only win on the year came against those same Bears, who themselves have just one win. Given the awkward dynamic between head coach Sean Payton and veteran quarterback Russell Wilson, who were supposed to be some match made in heaven, given that the Broncos organization went so far as to trade three first round picks, cumulatively, to ascertain both of their services, after this 1-5 start it’s an open question if the franchise doesn’t start from scratch and nosedive for a chance at the number one pick.
It’s a hilarious development, from a Chiefs’ fan perspective. Holding grudges is basically a staple of my existence, and my original memory — the first instance I planted my flag and felt sincere disappointment, enough to bring me to tears — happened in January, 1998, when I sat in the backseat of my mom’s hand-me-down Chrysler while we listened to the game on the radio waiting in the rain to pick my grandma up from the train station. John Elway led a late drive and the Broncos upset the Chiefs, 14-10.
As recently as last year it seemed like Kansas City was going to have to wade through a juggernaut division. In theory Russell Wilson was still a very good NFL quarterback, the Broncos already had a good defense; Justin Herbert of the Chargers is arguably a top-5 guy in the league from a pure talent standpoint; and the Raiders, well, there has to be one bad team in the division, right?
It’s only been like 18 months, but we’re in a different place now. The Broncos are on the brink of a full collapse, one that requires not only a generic rebuild, that several NFL teams must go through on a year-to-year basis, but a legitimate obliteration of the roster and team-building exercise and experience. Since Russell Wilson is still owed a shitload of money over the next three years, it’s going to create a situation where their only way out is to sell off any meaningful assets they have and hope they can strike on a handful of lottery tickets in the NFL Draft over the next couple years. The closest thing I can relate it to is what happened with the Texans a few years ago; they literally had to eat shit and be the worst team in the NFL for two years until now, where at 2-3 they are at least competitive.
The Chargers aren’t in dire straights, like the Broncos are, but they just paid Justin Herbert the contract that he rightfully earned, which means starting next year they won’t be able to afford other assets on the roster. Everything will have to be watered down. The luxury of having a QB on a rookie contract is why so many teams are able to load up at other positions. Once you pay that guy, however, a different approach has to take place.
That’s why the Chiefs, at 5-1 currently, are in an incredibly powerful position now and in the years to come. Because they already paid Patrick Mahomes. They did that like three years ago. They have already been through the process that the Chargers are soon to experience, where they won’t be able to pay all the other good players they have on their roster. They hit on some draft picks, those young players gained valuable experience en route to winning a Super Bowl last year, and that’s all she wrote.
It was a year ago that the rest of the AFC West panicked and got drunk and signed all sorts of premium players. The Broncos traded the world for Russell Wilson and gave him a massive guaranteed contract. The Raiders traded a first rounder for Davante Adams and gave him a shitload of money, then went and signed Chandler Jones for a whopper of a contract. The Chargers gave cornerback J.C. Jackson a four-year, $80 million contract. All of these moves were made to better their teams in the short term, yes, but getting better in the short term meant being better able to compete against the Chiefs.
And what did the Chiefs do? They let all their free agents leave, for the most part. They traded away Tyreek Hill. They actively made themselves worse in the short term to better position themselves in the longterm, which is really what having Patrick Mahomes at quarterback is all about. Extending the championship window.
In the meantime, Russell Wilson turned into a fucking pumpkin. Davante Adams has seemed disgruntled but even if he isn’t, the Raiders stink anyway. Chandler Jones has been dealing with some mental health issues and isn’t playing anymore, and as much as I’d like to make fun of the Raiders I can’t make fun of that situation. I hope he’s okay. Oh, and J.C. Jackson, that high-priced free agent corner for the Chargers… they recently traded him to the Patriots for like a 5th or 6th round pick.
The best part of all of this — beyond the obvious, which I just described — is the Chiefs have been one of the least impressive “good” teams of the NFL season. They lost to the Lions 21-20; they beat the Jaguars 17-9; they beat the Bears 41-10; they scraped by the Jets, 23-20; they played their B-minus game against the Vikings and won 27-20; they sleepwalked to a 19-8 win over the Broncos. Nothing has been pretty this year, and they are 5-1 and if the playoffs started today would possess the number one seed and first round bye in the AFC.
Eventually, the Chiefs are going to have to wake up. Maybe it’ll come next week in an afternoon affair at home against the Chargers, objectively speaking their closest competition within the AFC West, but then again it might not. It probably won’t, if I’m being honest. During these fat and happy Patrick Mahomes years one of the things I’ve realized is they don’t put it all out there unless they absolutely have to. The Chiefs, I mean. They’ll straight up use a vanilla game plan against a division rival like the Chargers, knowing they will play again later in the year and if the Chiefs do need a win, they’ll use their good stuff. Does that make sense? Andy Reid will save his good plays for the moments that matter.
I think the same phenomenon occurs when they play the Bengals and Bills who, while they don’t share a division with the Chiefs, are expected to be there in the end. When the games really matter. So Kansas City will sacrifice a regular season game here and there if it means they are in a better position to defeat them in the playoffs. That’s really what I’m talking about here. The endgame.
I say all of this right now because a lot of people actually believe, like really believe, that the Chiefs are not as good as they really are. Maybe I’m on an island, maybe the media just needs something to talk about, whatever, but my best guess having seen this team and watched literally 98% of every play they have ran and defended since 2018 — and I shit you not, please find somebody more invested than me who exists — is that all these young wide receivers who can’t get open, all this pedestrian offense, will suddenly be forgotten about when Kansas City has a game that really means something. Out of nowhere all the guys who can’t get open will be there, right there, for Patrick Mahomes, to zip a pass to, in a crucial moment.
A lot of NFL teams are happy to be here. They are happy to win on a random Sunday, happy to showcase what they’ve got. That isn’t the game that the Chiefs are playing. There’s a word for this that I once learned when I was in a bowling league: it’s called “sandbagging.” Kansas City is sandbagging the rest of football. They are bullshitting. Playing a game within a game.
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