<\/p>\n
Denver Broncos wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) is brought down by Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L’jarius Sneed (38) after catching a pass during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n
Charlie Riedel\/AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel<\/p>\n
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix throws a pass against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n
Charlie Riedel\/AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel<\/p>\n
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy (1) is pushed out of bounds by Denver Broncos cornerback Riley Moss (21) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n
Charlie Riedel\/AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel<\/p>\n
Denver Broncos defensive end Zach Allen looks on prior to an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n
Colin E. Braley\/AP Photo\/Colin E. Braley<\/p>\n
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) \u2014 Bo Nix called Denver’s bludgeoning at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs \u201ca nasty wakeup call\u201d for a Broncos team with Super Bowl aspirations. Sean Payton called it a \u201cslap in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Now, the trick is to make sure their 31-10 loss at Kansas City is an aberration and not an omen.<\/p>\n
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“You’ve got to learn from it, you’ve got to flush it as soon as possible after our meeting today and move on to the next opponent,\u201d offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey said Tuesday. \u201cWe still have those (championship) aspirations and one game doesn’t define our season or who we are and we’ve just got to learn how to get better from it.”<\/p>\n
Possibly the most disconcerting part about their dismal showing Monday night wasn’t that newcomer Jaylen Waddle was limited to a single catch for 2 yards or that Nix fumbled three times or even that new play-caller Davis Webb had a dud of a debut.<\/p>\n
It’s that one of the league’s best defenses missed 28 tackles at Arrowhead Stadium, where Kenneth Walker III ran roughshod over the Broncos for 173 yards.<\/p>\n
That included 144 yards after contact as Denver’s 29.8% missed tackle rate was the third-worst in an NFL game since 2018, and their 247 missed tackle yards allowed were the most by any defense in that same span, according to Next Gen Stats.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt’s very correctable,” said lineman Zach Allen, one of only two Denver defensive starters who didn’t miss a tackle. \u201cSo, that’s the good news. Yeah, it’s definitely going to be a point of emphasis in practice this week.<\/p>\n
“Knowing the guys we got in this group, it’ll get addressed, it’ll get fixed. So, yeah, shouldn’t be a problem anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
The offense had its own dismal showing as Nix fumbled three times, got sacked on his first snap and intercepted on his first pass. The Broncos converted just twice in a dozen third-down opportunities and couldn’t sustain drives even before the game got out of hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t play good against a really good team, they\u2019re going to beat you pretty good,\u201d said Nix.<\/p>\n
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It’s harder to flush such an ugly game out of one’s system, too, suggested coach Sean Payton.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to lose in a hard-fought game where you feel like you played well,\u201d Payton said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like we played up to our standard and certainly that starts with us as coaches, myself. And so, yeah, it\u2019s disappointing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it’s a shorter week, but there’s no way we can get past today without looking at the tape and looking at the things that we have to improve on before we even play the next opponent.”<\/p>\n
What\u2019s working<\/p>\n
TE Evan Engram caught Denver’s only touchdown pass, equaling his TD total from last season. Engram played alongside Webb with the New York Giants, so their chemistry goes way back.<\/p>\n
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What needs help<\/p>\n
Denver’s defense. It’s back to the basics for a unit that’s been Denver’s calling card for decades. This was its worst showing since Vance Joseph’s group allowed 70 points to Miami in 2023.<\/p>\n
Stock up<\/p>\n
Allen and Nik Bonitto are the only Denver front-line defenders who didn’t miss a tackle. Allen also had one of Denver’s two sacks.<\/p>\n
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Stock down<\/p>\n
Nix was nowhere near himself in his return from a broken right ankle and Davis was unbalanced in his play calls even when the game was close, calling just a handful of runs before halftime.<\/p>\n
Injuries<\/p>\n
PR Marvin Mims left briefly with a hip injury but returned.<\/p>\n
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Key number<\/p>\n
2. Sacks by a team that racked up 131 sacks the last two seasons. \u201cWhen you think about it, No. 1, Patrick (Mahomes) is super smart. The ball is coming out with some quick screens …,” Payton said. “They were not just going to sit there with him in the pocket on seven-step drops, understandably so. They had a good plan. The ball was coming out fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next steps<\/p>\n
Following their biggest loss since a 31-7 blowout at Buffalo in the 2024 playoffs, the Broncos host the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0), who walloped them 34-20 last year in Colorado to snap Denver’s 11-game winning streak.<\/p>\n
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See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver Broncos wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) is brought down by Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L’jarius Sneed (38)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1001810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[925,232,48886,231,258,131256,2426,2826,7,14706,9294,3896,3884,6,1625,83966,27878,499,27876,115635,93579,83964,122421,1813,2832,1626],"class_list":["post-1002280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-bo-nix","tag-broncos","tag-davis-webb","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denver-broncos-nix-chiefs-opener","tag-denverbroncos","tag-evan-engram","tag-football","tag-jaylen-waddle","tag-kenneth-walker","tag-marvin-mims","tag-mike-mcglinchey","tag-nfl","tag-nik-bonitto","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32000-ap-online-football-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-33351-ap-online-analysis","tag-product-40777-ap-colorado-sports-only","tag-sean-payton","tag-vance-joseph","tag-zach-allen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1002280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1002280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1001810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1002280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1002280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1002280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}