Talk about thin margins. The Kansas City Chiefs just barely managed to uphold their winning streak, defeating the Denver Broncos 16-14 on Sunday. With one second left in the 4th quarter, the Broncos had a 35-yard potential game-winning field goal attempt blocked by Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal, winning them the game.
The Broncos were determined to snap their decade-long losing streak at Arrowhead Stadium and are looking to clinch their first playoff berth since 2015. Broncos quarterback Bo Nix threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns and orchestrated the closing drive that brought them within range of the potential game-winning field goal. Broncos kicker Wil Lutz set up on the 35-yard line, only for Chenal to break Denver’s hearts.
“I get to see that every day,” said Chiefs HC Andy Reid in his post-game press conference. “We work that block and that last final shot there. It’s something that we work on like crazy, so it normally doesn’t work quite like that, but that one, we had a couple of different guys. George [Karlaftis] was in there, too, I believe. I haven’t had a chance to look at the replay but it looked like we had a couple different guys in there.”
The win means that the Chiefs continue their 15-game win streak, which started last season during their Super Bowl run. It isn’t the first game this season that they narrowly avoided a loss. In Week 1 vs. the Baltimore Ravens, the Chiefs won 27-20, thanks to the Ravens’ potential game-winning touchdown being overturned thanks to TE Isaiah Likely’s toe being out of bounds. In Week 2, they won vs. the Cincinnati Bengals thanks to a controversial pass interference call against Bengals’ rookie safety Daijahn Anthony.
Nix, during his post-game conference, had a positive take:
“We’re close. We’re right there, we just have to get over that hump… We have to find a way to make a play when they don’t, make a play that wins it.
“In this league, that’s the line between playoff teams and teams that win championships and all the other guys.
Hats off to them [Chiefs]. They find ways to just keep winning and winning.”
