The Broncos didn’t just beat the Chiefs on Sunday. They dragged a game that looked lost back into their hands, then slammed the door with a fourth-down sack of Patrick Mahomes to finish off a 28-24 comeback and move into sole possession of first place in the AFC West.
That finish had every bit of the chaos the score suggests. Denver trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, then Bo Nix and the offense flipped the script with two touchdowns while the defense delivered the final punch. It was the kind of ending that leaves your pulse racing long after the clock hits zero.
Denver’s second-half stretch was ugly for a while. The offense went three-and-out on three straight possessions as Kansas City started to stretch the lead. Then the fourth quarter arrived, and everything changed.
Nix has built a reputation for thriving when the game tightens, and this one fit that pattern perfectly. The throw he fired to Adam Trautman on Denver’s first scoring drive in crunch time was the kind of play that changes the temperature of a stadium. It was also one of the defining moments in what might be the second-best fourth-quarter comeback of his career, trailing only the 33-point display he produced against the New York Giants last year.
The numbers back up the finish. Nix went 20-of-32 for 222 yards and threw a pair of 4th-&-Goal touchdown passes from the 1-yard line. When the pressure spikes, he keeps finding a way to make the biggest throws.
The wild part is that the ending still had more drama packed into it. After the game-winning touchdown run by Jonah Coleman, the Chiefs answered with a couple of explosive gains that kept the Broncos sweating until the very end.
Chiefs rookie running back Emmett Johnson was a problem all afternoon. He ripped off a 73-yard touchdown catch and run on a blown coverage, then added a 38-yard reception in the second quarter after slipping a Justin Strnad tackle. He also handled the 44-yard kickoff return that set up Kansas City’s final drive.
And it wasn’t only Johnson. Travis Kelce, long a thorn in Denver’s side, added a 27-yard reception on that last possession too.
Even with those breakdowns, the Broncos’ defense did enough to win the game. Kansas City finished with 399 total yards, but more than 100 of them came on Johnson’s two explosive plays. The Chiefs also managed just 90 rushing yards as a team, a strong answer after what they did to Denver in Week 1.
There was another clear takeaway from this one: the Broncos’ running back situation has changed. Rumors have been swirling about Denver exploring a move before the November 10 trade deadline, and the current rotation makes that conversation easy to understand.
Dobbins has lost the starting job to Coleman, and the split was obvious here. Dobbins carried seven times for 13 yards and barely saw the field after halftime.
Coleman, meanwhile, out-carried him by four attempts and looked far more dangerous with the ball. His 53-yard reception to set up his second career rushing touchdown was a huge play.
With the Broncos sitting in first place in the West and the schedule still ahead of them, this feels like the moment to act. The search should be for an explosive playmaker who can create on his own, and the names already on the board include Jonathan Taylor, Tony Pollard and Breece Hall, all of whom have reportedly been on the trade block.
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