By Nick Kosmider, Jesse Newell and Amos Morale III

Another week, another Denver Broncos win thanks to a Wil Lutz kick.

Lutz capped a 10-play, 58-yard drive, which featured big completions from quarterback Bo Nix to receivers Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin, with a 35-yard field goal to give the Broncos a 22-19 win Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The game-winner was Lutz’s fifth made field goal on the day and keyed Denver’s ninth win of the season.

His kick dropped the Chiefs to 5-5 while further hurting Kansas City’s chance to win its 10th straight AFC West championship.

WIL LUTZ IS CLUTCH (AGAIN).

📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/jKkUgwOv07

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 17, 2025

NFL’s most harassing defense comes through again

Ja’Quan McMillian’s interception of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the third quarter helped flip the game. His sack of the future Hall of Famer in the fourth quarter may have finally turned the tide in the AFC West.

The defensive back came screaming in on a blitz from the left side on third-and-10 to drop Mahomes and force the Chiefs to punt the ball back to the Broncos with less than 3 minutes left. It was another brilliant play call from defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, whose unit sacked Mahomes three times, forced an interception — a second pick was called back by penalty — and generally made the plays needed to buy enough chances for Denver’s offense to break through late.

The Broncos enter their bye week with 49 sacks, by far the most in the league. They are on pace to challenge the Chicago Bears’ record of 72 sacks in 1984. That the Broncos won Sunday without reigning defensive player of the year Patrick Surtain II or starting linebacker Alex Singleton is a testament to the quality of depth they have built on a defense that may be the league’s best — and is the biggest reason Denver should be viewed as a legitimate title contender. — Nick Kosmider, Broncos beat writer

Bo Nix answers the critics

The noise was getting loud around Nix, even during a seven-game winning streak. The offense had been erratic, at best, in a 10-7 win against the Raiders and had generally suffered from long bouts of inefficient play for the first three quarters of games.

Only the quarterback didn’t hear. Nix said he eschews social media and generally doesn’t hear any of what is being said on the outside about his game.

“Unless someone says it to my face,” Nix said. “I don’t really hear it and nobody’s ever bold enough to say it to my face.”

Nix let his game do the talking Sunday in arguably his best performance of the season. He completed 24 of 37 passes for 295 yards, including two massive completions on third down on Denver’s final drive.

Nix was poised in the pocket, made plays when he had to and hit Franklin for a crucial 32-yard completion that helped set Lutz up for the game winner.

The performance not only put Denver in the driver’s seat of the AFC West, but also should go a long way toward silencing doubts about whether Nix is the right quarterback to lead this title-contending team. — Kosmider

Ducks fly together!@OregonFootball | 📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/dvkcRLaffW

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 17, 2025

Desperation time

The Chiefs, on a down-by-down basis, have played as well statistically as any other team in the NFL — the reason they still entered the week as sportsbooks’ favorite to win the Super Bowl.

But at some point that production has to turn into wins if the Chiefs want to even put themselves in position to make the playoffs in a competitive AFC. Kansas City is 0-5 this season in games decided by seven points or fewer.

Dropping to 5-5 is a big deal. According to The Athletic’s NFL playoff simulator, the Chiefs now have a 58 percent chance to make the playoffs, whereas they would’ve been at 83 percent with a win.

K.C.’s hopes to win the AFC West are nearly gone. Our simulator handicaps the Chiefs’ chances now at 9 percent to win the division, compared with the 42 percent if they had won.

The Chiefs desperately needed this result to take some pressure off a season in which they haven’t come through in critical moments. They couldn’t get it Sunday. — Jesse Newell, Chiefs beat writer

Too many mistakes

The Chiefs couldn’t overcome lots of sloppiness against the Broncos. And many of those miscues were uncharacteristically on special teams, an area where coordinator Dave Toub has given the Chiefs a small edge for years.

On this day, though, K.C. surrendered a 70-yard punt return to Marvin Mims, had multiple special-teams flags and also had a late extra-point attempt blocked.

There was a reason Chiefs coach Andy Reid mentioned, during a halftime interview with CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson, the team having too many penalties . The Chiefs had 10 markoffs for 69 yards on Sunday, with many of those errors negating big plays on offense. — Newell

Atypically unclutch

Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense so often have come through in the most important moments. With a fourth-quarter lead Sunday, they simply didn’t come through.

K.C. had possession midway through the fourth quarter with a three-point lead. Denver forced a three-and-out to get the ball back.

After the Broncos tied it with a field goal, Mahomes had the opportunity for a game-winning drive. The Chiefs mustered only three plays again, going backward 11 yards in the process.

Though the Chiefs’ defense wasn’t perfect, it needed more from the offense late in the form of first downs or points. It got neither, as the Chiefs failed to play complementary football while giving up their late lead. – Newell