The Kansas City Chiefs had two weeks to prepare for a game that would save their season and against a team they have dominated for a decade. The Denver Broncos want to change the narrative and change the guard. They played a hard-fought defensive masterpiece that ended in yet another fourth quarter comeback in a season filled with them.
Denver, CO
Game Thread: 2025 NBA LV Summer League – Denver Nuggets vs Milwaukee Bucks. – Denver Stiffs
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4 reasons why the Denver Broncos are the best team in the AFC after Week 11 | Sporting News
The Denver Broncos have won eight games in a row and, after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 22-19 on Sunday, have made their case as the best team in the AFC and perhaps, the entire NFL.
What a difference one game makes. The Broncos hung on to beat the Las Vegas Raiders 10-7 on Thursday Night Football in Week 10 and all of the talk was about how the sky was falling in Denver because the offense was so bad. That was the narrative that the national media ran with, but others were talking about the fact that all wins in the NFL count, no matter how they come. Those same folks realized that it was a short week, having to play on a Thursday night, and that the team was playing in its seventh game in 39 days.
Maybe Sean Payton knew the Broncos could easily beat the Raiders, even in ugly fashion, and held back so he can unveil bigger plays when the team really needs them?
There are many things to consider, but one thing is for sure: that performance against the Raiders doesn’t mean anything now. The Broncos arguably got their biggest win since winning Super Bowl 50 when they beat the Chiefs on Sunday, and now hold a 3.5-game lead over them in the division standings.
Right now, the Broncos are the best team in the AFC. If the season ended today, the Broncos would have the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs on the AFC side, meaning they would have home-field advantage. While the team still has six games to play, there are multiple reasons why they are the best team in the AFC, not just on paper, but in reality.
4 reasons why the Broncos are the AFC’s best team
The Broncos have beaten both teams that were in last year’s Super Bowl
Super Bowl LIX featured the Philadelphia Eagles playing the Kansas City Chiefs. Within a span of just 42 days this season, the Broncos have beaten them both.
Both games were hard-fought, but the Broncos arguably got each team’s best shot in both of them. The Eagles were still undefeated and playing at home in Week 5, but the Broncos left Lincoln Financial Field with a 21-17 win. On Sunday, the Chiefs had their backs against the wall and many considered it a must-win situation for them. The Chiefs, who never lose those games, were also coming off their bye week. Andy Reid was 22-4 in his career when coming off the bye week.
The Broncos overcame all of that and handed the Chiefs a loss.
Denver has won its last 11 home games
The best teams in the league don’t lose at home. The Broncos have won their last 11 games at Empower Field and if they can get home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, it will be a very difficult place for any team to come into and play.
The Broncos have the best defense in the NFL
This is almost not even an argument at this point.
The Broncos lead the league in sacks and could break the all-time record by a team in that category. They are allowing only 17.4 points per game and have been winning even without Pat Surtain II, who could be back in the lineup following the bye week.
Defense wins championships and a team with a combination of having the best defense and home-field advantage will be quite difficult to beat.
The Broncos’ two losses are by a combined 4 points
A case could easily be made that the Broncos could be 11-0 right now. Their only losses are by a total of four points, both on field goals on the last play of the game.
Their first loss came against the Indianapolis Colts on a 45-yard field goal as time expired. Of course, that was when the Colts got to run the play again as their first attempt, a kick from 60 yards, missed badly, but the Broncos were called for a somewhat fluky unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for leverage when trying to block the kick.
They lost to the Los Angeles Chargers the following week, but that took a miraculous throw from Justin Herbert after slipping through a Zach Allen sack. The Broncos went three-and-out on their following possession and the Chargers moved into range for a game-winning field goal from Cameron Dicker on the game’s final play.
READ: Ja’Quan McMillian proving that team would have messed up by trading him
Both the Colts and Chargers are current playoff teams and both of those games were on the road, so they weren’t bad losses. Both games could have easily gone the other way.
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Broncos vs. Chiefs final score
Team |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Chiefs | 3 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 19 |
| Denver Broncos | 6 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 22 |
There was no slow start for the Broncos offense in this game. They would open up with a 14-play drive, but would settle for a field goal. The Chiefs would go a quick four and out getting one first down. On the punt return, Marvin Mims Jr. welcomed himself back to the NFL with a 70-yard return to the Chiefs 10 yard line.
Unfortunately, the Chiefs red zone defense was showing up in this game and would hold Denver to back-to-back field goals to start the game. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs caught a huge break with a questionable defensive pass interference call on a deep ball with Riley Moss in coverage. Denver’s defense would shut it down from there anyway, but Kansas City would get on the scoreboard as the first quarter wound down.
Broncos 6, Chiefs 3. Full first quarter recap.
The Broncos offense did nothing in the second quarter, though they didn’t have the ball much due to a 17-play, 10 minute drive by the Chiefs that ate up much of the quarter. The Broncos defense did keep getting the job done in the quarter, though.
The first half would end with the Chiefs having another chance to put points on the board, but the Broncos defense clamped down in the secondary to force multiple incompletions before ending the half with their second sack of the game.
Broncos 6, Chiefs 6. Full second quarter recap.
The third quarter was strange. Jahdae Barron had himself a pick six that would have blown the game wide open, but a rather ticky tack illegal contact penalty on Riley Moss wiped out the play. The momentum swing from that seemed to breathe new life into Mahomes and the Chiefs offense with Travis Kelce making three big catches to move them into the red zone.
Then Ja’Quan McMillian entered the conversation with a massive interception of his own on third down.
After penalties on Denver, they would start at their own 11 yard line and begin an 11-play, 89 yard touchdown drive that was capped by a touchdown run from Jaleel McLaughlin.
Mahomes and the Chiefs would answer with a 61-yard bomb to Tyquan Thornton, with Kareem Hunt punching it in from one yard out three plays later. That would be the Chiefs first touchdown scored in Denver in the last 11+ quarters.
Broncos 13, Chiefs 13. Full third quarter recap.
Just before the final quarter began, Nix would go deep to Pat Bryant who would come down with the ball for a 48-yard gain. That would spark the drive to a field goal to give Denver a 3-point lead early in the quarter.
The Kansas City Refs get all the calls at the biggest moments. Whether it comes during a pick six or a third and 19. This time it was a third and 19 for a 46-yard DPI call on — you guessed it — Riley Moss. That would lead to a Travis Kelce touchdown and the first lead of the game for the Chiefs.
A blocked extra point kept the score close, however, with a 19-16 lead midway into the fourth.
The Broncos offense, in their biggest regular season game in a decade, came out with a three-and-out in response to the Chiefs momentum-changing score. Not the ideal response. Fortunately, the Broncos defense would force an immediate three-and-out to get Nix and the offense another chance to get a drive going.
Marvin Mims Jr. would get a 24-yard return to set the Broncos up near midfield with 6:30 left in the game. That would give the Broncos offense enough momentum to pick up a few first downs to tie the game back up in short order. The Broncos defense then forced a quick punt after Ja’Quan McMillian picked up his second sack of the game on third and long to get Denver’s offense back on the field with just under three minutes left in the game.
From their own 26-yard line, the Broncos would start off with a five yard pass to Pat Bryant. Things went south in a hurry from there after a phantom holding call was thrown by the officials and a yolo ball to Troy Franklin that predictably went incomplete. On third and 15, however, Nix remembered Courtland Sutton is a dude and hit him for a 20 yard gain and a first down at their own 41-yard line to bring the game to the two minute warning.
Two plays later on third and six, Nix with ice in his veins would find Sutton short of the sticks where he would dive forward for the first down. With a minute left in the game, that was a huge moment. Two plays later, Nix went deep to Troy Franklin for a 32-yard strike to the Chiefs 15-yard line with the game on the line.
Wil Lutz would kick the 35-yard walk off field goal to win it.
Two win streaks collided in the Twin Cities this weekend. Something had to give.
In the end, it was Minnesota’s four-game surge that snapped. The Nuggets were too much to overcome, even without starters Christian Braun and Cam Johnson. With a 123-112 victory on Saturday, they’ve won seven in a row, including three straight on the road.
Denver (10-2) hosts the Chicago Bulls on Monday before hitting the road again.
Without Braun and Johnson
In their first game navigating what will be at least a six-week absence for Braun, the Nuggets had to replace two starters, not one. David Adelman went with Peyton Watson and Tim Hardaway Jr., and both contributed in their own ways.
Hardaway reached 20 points for the second time this season, punctuated by a contested corner 3-pointer while falling into Minnesota’s bench as Denver pulled away in the fourth quarter. Watson had a fairly erratic night offensively, but Denver doesn’t need much from him at that end of the floor when he plays with the starters. His defensive effort will determine how he fills the Braun void, and it was largely up to standard in Minnesota.
The Nuggets started the game in their 2-3 zone defense, which was effective at forcing turnovers and above-the-break 3s early, then Watson was the primary matchup on Anthony Edwards when they played man-to-man. The star guard struggled to make shots as Denver played solid team defense against him. Watson was at the head of the snake, and behind him, his teammates tried to show Edwards a crowd.
The short-handed Nuggets played Spencer Jones and Julian Strawther to patch together a nine-man rotation. How they approach Braun’s spot in the lineup whenever Johnson returns will be fascinating. Hardaway has been stellar all season, but the starting unit might call for more of a defense-first player against opponents with an elite guard.
The Aaron Gordon factor
The Nuggets have tweaked how they prefer to use Gordon under Adelman. He’s working out of the dunker spot less often in the early part of the season. He’s handling the ball more and playing in a lot of three-man actions with Jokic and Jamal Murray (or other combinations).
Adelman staggered Gordon along with Murray on the second unit and managed to win the non-Jokic minutes by a sturdy margin. Gordon hit a pair of key shots during a fourth-quarter run, first from the midrange off the dribble, then from the 3-point line off the catch.
His defense has also been living up to his preseason promise to “turn up.” Opponents are shooting 43 for 113 (38.1%) with Gordon defending, and it’s a testament to his value that Denver’s coaching staff feels comfortable enough with him guarding Edwards to switch Gordon onto him when Watson or another primary defender gets screened.
Appointment viewing Christmas Day
This rivalry is alive and well. Even the Nuggets’ newcomers are embracing it. After Jonas Valanciunas battled Naz Reid for a feisty offensive rebound Saturday, they got in each other’s faces and Reid earned a technical foul.
In the second half, Rudy Gobert picked up a flagrant for bulldozing through a cross-screen set by Hardaway under the basket — Hardaway had words for Gobert after the foul. The Nuggets didn’t even have time to inbound the ball for the ensuing play because Gordon and Julius Randle were grappling for positioning. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for the nearest official to call a rare double tech, trying to get a chippy game under control.
This was a physical, messy, awesomely competitive game that should portend more popcorn entertainment on Christmas, when the Wolves visit Ball Arena in prime time. The two franchises are fittingly trading blows in an increasingly layered rivalry. They’ve both taken a playoff series from the other. Minnesota swept the season series last year. Now, the Nuggets have already stolen both head-to-head matchups in Minneapolis this season.
Former coach Michael Malone used to be reluctant to label Nuggets vs. Timberwolves as a rivalry. But it’s abundantly clear these teams don’t like each other.
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