Tony Romo says there is ‘no guarantee’ Chiefs will make the playoffs anymore after loss to Broncos

Tony Romo says there is ‘no guarantee’ Chiefs will make the playoffs anymore after loss to Broncos

And for more, we say hello to the lead analyst of the NFL on CBS, Tony Romo, stopping by as he does each and every week here on HQ. Tony, these are the moments and the plays that define players names. Bo Nicks in this moment was spectacular. What did you make of this fourth quarter? It was a great fourth quarter. I think this was one of those games that’s rare in the regular season where you felt the pressure, you felt the moment. And you know, Denver’s been doing it all year, but now it’s against Kansas City, the team who’s owned this division consistently. And if you really want to make people believe and you really think you’re that good, then you’ll do the same thing. You’re at home in an incredibly tough environment for the Chiefs, but Mahomes has been in a lot of tough environments has shown up. And to me, just that throw by Bo Knicks on second down to Franklin, that epitomizes their season in a nutshell. That was big time. And he has shown up over and over again in the fourth quarter. And this there has not been a bigger one than this one this year. They grabbed a hold of this division tonight. Yeah, their fifth win this season when trailing at the two-minute mark. Unbelievable stuff and a resolve from Bicks and this Denver Broncos team. I think the illusion I’ve used in the past, Tony, is I will be the violinist on the Chiefs Titanic. the water’s starting to get cold. Maybe not for playoff hopes, but certainly for that division. When you look at the road ahead now, does focus shift to what it might look like on the road through a wild card? It definitely does. I think the biggest thing you see really quickly is just there’s no guarantee they make the playoffs. And that’s crazy to think about. Jacksonville winning today was concerning because now it was okay if Kansas City won this game today. Not only does Denver come back a game, but the Chargers lost to Jacksonville. So then you’re like, okay, they picked up a game on both teams and they also still end up playing the Chargers. So you’re like, okay, that’s not that concerning fully. And with Denver, the whole situation, but now that they lost, they’re chasing Jacksonville. The division is most likely gone. And if they get that, then things change dramatically. But Jacksonville beat them head-to-head. So now they’re in this position to where you’re a full two games behind them. So you don’t have much room for error. And it’s rare for the Chiefs not to have much room for error in November. I mean this next game against Indie becomes huge to say the least. Two games back of seven. As you said, a 9-year division streak squarely in jeopardy and the Indianapolis Colts straight ahead. That vaunted rushing attack is what they look at next in Kansas City. The stat and so many of them point to a different Kansas City team this year, but 0 and five in one score games this season. Tony, what does that tell you about this group that had won 17 consecutive prior two? I think they’ve been incredible in the past because it’s been a complete team effort. Of course, we know Momes is incredible. He does as good a job as anybody is getting his team out of trouble and figuring out ways to just win the game. And, you know, he’s just always been that guy. But right now, he may not have all the things working perfectly around him. And this is what happens to championship teams. You just can’t be that good for 10, 12 years. I mean, it’s it’s crazy. The Patriots had to restart. They went through the same phase and then rechanged the team with a bunch of new guys. Grank wasn’t there for the beginning era. Then that whole era comes on. And so, I’m not saying we’re seeing a changing of the guards. I’m just saying it’s a lot tougher right now. They’ve played so many more games than other teams. They’ve been in so many pressure packed situations. I think they brought it tonight. It was just Denver’s really good at home and they’re a really good football team and uh expect to see Kansas City at their best the next few weeks though. Yeah, plenty still to sort, but this one had a playoff feel a mile high. Nobody does it like Tony, Jim, and Tracy. Thank you, Tony. 100%. Thank you. Appreciate it. Our team with the NFL on CBS bringing you another classic. This one with ripple effects across that division and in the conference. Five and five with November waning. Kansas City now taking on teams like Jacksonville and others in that AFC wild card picture. The road ahead for KC going to require their very best. The conversation continues from Denver. When we return, our guys weigh in on what went wrong for Kansas City and what continues to be right in Denver. [Music] Back with the fellas, these two will meet once again on Christmas night. So, some time to digest what we saw between now and then. JJ, for those waiting to open their hearts to the Denver Broncos, is this the type of win that says, “Hey, Ken City didn’t play a bad football game today. They just got beat by a better team.” Yeah. No, wait. Look, here is the thing about the Denver Broncos that we live in this fantasy football world where you want to see the quarterback throw the football over the yard. We live in an NFL that has really continued to build itself upon the 25 to 30year-old young quarterback face of the of the NFL. What you get with the Denver Broncos is old school football. You get a team that is go that is led by their defense. Yes, they have Shawn Peyton who made his name on the offensive side of the football. No doubt. And he had Drew Brees for forever. And so we all want Bo Knicks to be Drew Brees. Drew Brees, he is not, but when you need him to be Drew Brees in the fourth quarter to get you down into field goal range, more times than not this season, we have seen him do it. This Denver Broncos team is all about the defense. It is all about Vance Joseph, former head coach of the Broncos, who was able to swallow his pride, come back to Denver as the defensive coordinator and be just one of the best in the world at his job, uh, as we have known him to be. You know, all these openings happen and people talk about who should be the head coach somewhere. Why don’t you want the guy who for consecutive years has led the Denver Broncos to a top three defense who this year in games that they have no business being in because the offense has been terrible for three and a half quarters. The Denver Broncos are in those games holding guys like Jaylen Herz and like Patrick Mahomes to pedestrian days. Uh credit all to the Denver Broncos, but certainly credit to this defense. The defense is the reason why this team is who they are because Bo Knicks is not playing like rookie year Bo Knicks so far. The entire offense in terms of the splash plays. They’re not delivering like they did in 2024, but they’re not missing the beat because of their defense. And oh, by the way, their defense has been dominant without Pat Certan Jr. defensive player of the year from a year ago. So when you talk about the depth they have, yeah, it’s been it’s been felt. when you talk about the playmaking ability they have on the defensive side, it’s been felt and they’ve been doing that without their best defensive player also. So, Vance Joseph has done a phenomenal job and these are the games that we need to get accustomed to seeing with the Denver Broncos winning in an ugly fashion and they’re okay in doing so. The only concern I have with Denver guys today, they won the ball game, the running game without JK Dobbins. That’s a good point that that that they got to find a way to get RJ Harvey going or get someone going that can kind of not necessarily fill the shoes. 59 yards as a team. As a team, it helps when you have a team that ran for 62 on the other side of the match up, but that’s not going to be the case coming down the stretch. Yeah. And JK has really he was a bright spot for them providing a sense of balance even when the passing game wasn’t there. So, life without JK is going to be something they have to find a way to finagle to get the most out of. But today their defense did what they’re supposed to do and he they did that against Pat Mahomes. You know what I mean? So they can win a championship with this defense. I know a good deal of the advanced metrics do point towards a quarterback who’s not operating at an elite level by any means. It’s not a Drew Brees level as you alluded to, but 295 the throw he makes at the end of the game. Timely football from Bon Knicks. Once again, I want to talk about the nature of these wins, Pat, because it’s five comeback wins and they’ve all come in the last seven games. That doesn’t scream sustainability. How do you like the way they’re going about business? you take a win over the Chiefs and the Eagles any way you can get it, but Giants and Jets, maybe that gives you a moment of pause. No, not really. Cuz at the end of the day, a win is a win. And he was able to still win in that fashion against quality teams like um the Philadelphia Eagles, you know, um just had a great comeback against um that was down 19 in the fourth quarter, Giants, the Giants came back against the Giants in the fourth quarter. So, they have I I believe it is sustainable because they have played good teams and did it against those good teams. Yes, they they had they put themselves in a hole against, you know, teams who where they should not have been in a hole, but they still find find ways to get out of them. I’m going to go back to Bo Nicks real quick because, yeah, we’re talking about, you know, he h he has not been at a top level, but we still got to realize he’s a secondyear quarterback. A lot of secondyear quarterbacks don’t have that same success that they had in year one. But this is what I do love about Bo Nicks. He makes the plays when he needs them. like in the fourth quarter of this game, the sec second and 11, big time throw down the field, uh the comeback against the uh the Philadelphia Eagles, the drive that he was able to put put together against the Giants a couple weeks ago. So, I believe it is sustainable because what their defense is able to do far as sacking the quarterback, taking the ball away, creating short fields, and they can continue to win this way. And I got one more thing to say about the Chiefs. I’m concerned about the Chiefs because they still are not able to run the football. Yes, we know Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes, but he’s also getting older. He can’t be back there. Every time he’s he’s dropped back, he’s running for his life trying to find a receiver. So, the Kansas City Chiefs are going to have to find a a sustainable running game if they want to get themselves back in the playoff. And I think something to look at there, Mahomes’ greatest success this season has come outside of the pocket rather than standing there and doing his thing. As for Knicks, his past success rate 30th in the NFL coming into this game. The last quarterback to start a Super Bowl even with a success rate that low. Different Payton Manning in 2015 is he had a fused couldn’t throw the for shade at Bon Knicks, but the Broncos once again Brock Roswell were in to throw the ball from midfield. It was a different time then. It’s sometime to be a Broncos fan right now and they’re going to say that team win a Super Bowl. Look at our guy and look what he is capable to do cuz on this day he knocks off a Chiefs team that falls back to even 500 Mac at 5 and five. We were just talking about it with Tony Romo. You’re thinking you’re thinking wild card squarely now and you’re starting to assess different calibers of teams. How do you feel about their chances of of making the dance? If you’re a Chiefs fan before this game kicked off, you felt really really good because of what happened in Jacksonville with Jacksonville beating the Chargers. the window. Not to mention coming off a buy. Andy Reid has been one of the more prolific coaches in the history of the game in terms of winning fresh off a by week and then this happened. To Pat’s point, they have no identity when it comes to running the football. I’m a bit surprised and I’m still confused why they weren’t buyers at the trade deadline to improve the back field in terms of talent. They need to have a difference maker in the back field. Kareem Hunt. He’s a guy who can lean on defenders, but they don’t have that guy who can. I understand Isaiah Pacheco, but in terms of just that difference maker they don’t have. And those are things that surface in a game like today. You talked about a significant stat, Joe, in one possession ball games. 0 and five this year. They’re 0 and5. One of the main reasons why they’re not winning those said matchups, they don’t have a closer. They can’t close ball games. You know how you close ball games? Running the football. running the football. So for them, they’re in an unfamiliar spot when you look at the playoff picture because they’re on the outside looking in. And there are other teams that are playing more complete football than the Chiefs that currently are they’re in the tournament if the tournament was to start today. And on top of that, I know we we say the Chiefs can handle pressure, but this is going to be a different type of pressure that they’re going to have to deal with now. like it’s going to be a lot of like you got to play almost perfect perfect football from the from this season on out and you have teams out gunning for for you and they got a tough schedule. No doubt about it. Well, they’re they’re in the middle of it right now, right? So, they just played the Bills, they had the buy, they come off the buy, they play the Denver Broncos, they lose that game, now they have the Indianapolis Colts. You talk about an unfamiliar spot, BMAC. I’m in an unfamiliar spot because for the first time in almost a decade, I’m doubting I I feel you that the Kansas City Chiefs can make the playoffs. We’ve sat here, you and I, JJ, we said, “Oh, hold on. It’s the Chiefs. They’re going to figure it out. They get better. Machine learning. No running game. I mean, water’s getting cold.” it. So, I was just in Kansas City this past week and it was it was strange almost, but I understood why that in in talking with coaches there, they were speaking about how, yeah, we’re close. We we’ll clean up a couple of things from the Buffalo game, not not to worry. It’s not necessarily that they were looking past the Denver Broncos. I don’t want to give that impression, but just that they felt that they knew who they were, what they were going to be, and how that when they walk out there on Sunday that they’re going to take care of their business because they have for the past decade. Well, I thought that before the buy against the Buffalo Bills, and that didn’t happen. And I thought that today. Whatever happened between Jacksonville and and the Chargers didn’t matter because the Chiefs are going to take care of business didn’t happen. So now why do I go into this next game as I’m an observer of the Chiefs believing that they’re going to take care of business against the Colts coming off their own by show having proven to me time and again that they are legitimate because the Chiefs this season have not proven to me that they are the Chiefs of old. They haven’t done that yet. And if you think that that they have, you’re lying to yourself and you are putting the previous years onto this year’s Chiefs.

Tony Romo, Bryant McFadden, Jonathan Jones, and Patrick Peterson join CBS Sports HQ to recap the Week 11 matchup between the Broncos and the Chiefs.

[00:00:00] On-Site chat with Tony Romo
[00:04:41] Studio Recap

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