5 takeaways | Chiefs gift Broncos win, AFC West lead with 4th-quarter collapse

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.

—

Patrick Mahomes threw the game-winning touchdown to Rashee Rice, but there was a problem. Right tackle Jaylon Moore committed a false start with 4 seconds left, and the play was whistled dead.

It was fourth-and-goal at the Denver 1-yard line after Kenneth Walker III was stuffed for no gain on a third-down run.

This was it.

The Chiefs trailed 28-24 after a fourth-quarter capitulation, but the chance to seize firm control of the AFC West race was still there for the taking against the Broncos on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

Kansas City motioned to a bunch formation with three receivers to the left before Rice, who had been sidelined for the last month with a hamstring injury, dipped underneath and came open across the middle in the front of the end zone.

But the Chiefs would have to try again from five yards back after the 11th penalty for 105 yards, a season-worst in both categories.

“I didn’t see it, but that’s one man’s opinion,” Kansas City coach Andy Reid said. “I saw him move his head, but I didn’t see a false start.”

Fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line never had a chance.

With the pocket collapsing after Malcolm Roach beat left guard Mike Caliendo, who started for the second time in four games after Kingsley Suamataia was benched again, Mahomes tried to buy time and escape to his right, but the play was doomed as Roach lunged for a Superman sack to end it.

Kansas City (5-2) not only lost the game, but they lost control of the division as Denver (6-2) moved in front and evened the season series after taking a season-opening loss on the chin at Arrowhead Stadium.

Penalties doom KC

Kansas City was penalized eight times for 75 yards in the first half, making it surprising that Reid’s crew led 17-13 at intermission.

Denver benefitted from an 18-yard pass interference penalty on Kristian Fulton and a 15-yard Jack Cochrane unnecessary roughness penalty on its first drive, which netted a 39-yard Will Lutz field goal.

A 15-yard Drue Tranquill facemask penalty and a pass interference inside the 5-yard line on safety Alohi Gilman aided the Broncos on their only first-half touchdown drive.

Denver only had one first-half scoring drive, capped by a 45-yard Lutz field goal, that wasn’t penalty-aided.

Kansas City’s offense also suffered from the penalty bug before halftime, with a Travis Kelce false start helping lead to a punt.

The Chiefs managed to overcome a Trey Smith holding penalty thanks to a long Emmett Johnson touchdown catch-and-run, which you can read more about further down.

It looked for a while as if the Chiefs’ defense would make sure that four-point halftime lead would stand up, forcing the Broncos’ offense into a trio of three-and-outs to start the second half.

Denver managed 19 yards on nine plays on those three drives, including a pair of procedural penalties that helped short-circuit the first two drives.

Those 5-yard penalties were longer than all but one play for the Broncos on those three drives. A 7-yard pass from Bo Nix to Marvin Mims, Jr. was the lone exception.

Nix, who finished 20 of 32 for 222 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, threw three straight incompletions on the third drive before yet another Jeremy Crawshaw punt.

But penalties reared their ugly head again to ignite back-to-back Broncos touchdown drives sandwiched around Harrison Butker’s missed 54-yard field goal, which he pushed well right of the target and never appeared on target.

An Alohi Gilman unnecessary roughness penalty gifted Denver 15 yards before the defense gave allowed a 2-yard touchdown to N Adkins on fourth-and-goal.

With the two-point conversion from Nix to a wide-open Jaylen Waddle in the middle of the end zone, the Chiefs’ seemingly safe lead was down to a field goal.

Butker’s miss — he’s now 2 of 7 on kicks from 50-plus yards and also has missed a 45-yard kick and an extra point in the previous two games — gifted the Broncos the ball at their own 44-yard line.

It took two plays — a 51-yard pass from Nix to rookie Jonah Coleman, who followed up with a 5-yard touchdown run — for Denver to take the lead, its first since it was 3-0, and with it control of the AFC West.

For good measure, Kansas City’s offense made sure a penalty was its undoing in the closing seconds.

Longest offensive TD in 91 games

Running back Emmett Johnson snuck through the middle of the line of scrimmage and found himself all alone along the left sideline.

Despite pressure from Ja’Quan McMillian, who came unblocked on a corner blitz off the right edge, Mahomes spotted the rookie fifth-round pick from Nebraska. He lobbed a perfectly weighted pass, so Johnson didn't have to break stride as he broke free in the secondary.

Johnson did the rest, rumbling 73 yards to the end zone as he twisted safety Taylor Rapp around inside the 10-yard line before finishing Kansas City’s longest touchdown of the season.

In fact, it was the Chiefs’ longest offensive touchdown since a 75-yard pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill in the 2021 season opener, a 33-29 win over Cleveland at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs didn’t have any touchdowns longer than 54 yards in any of the last three seasons, but they already have two in 2026 — both from running back and both against the Broncos, after Walker ripped off a 60-yard rushing score in the season opener.

Longest offensive touchdown, by season

Interestingly, Kansas City’s defense has five touchdowns of at least 75 yards during the 91-game span from Hill’s touchdown on Sept. 12, 2021, to Johnson’s on Sunday.

Safety Mike Edwards returned a 97-yard fumble for a touchdown against the Chargers in the 2023 regular-season finale, and fellow safety Bryan Cook had a 59-yard fumble return score against Miami in Germany that same season.

Cornerback Jaylen Watson had a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Chargers in 2023.

Finally, in 2021, Daniel Sorenson had a 75-yard interception for a touchdown against Denver at Arrowhead, and linebacker Nick Bolton had an 86-yard fumble return for a score at the Broncos during the closing month of the season.

Late in the first half, Johnson had another long catch-and-run — this one for 38 yards with roughly a minute remaining until halftime — to set up a 45-yard Harrison Butker field goal, which pushed Kansas City’s lead to 17-13 at the break.

Johnson finished with five catches for 128 yards — including 119 yards in the first half, the most by a running back in Reid’s NFL career. He also added a 15-yard run and a 44-yard kickoff return after the Broncos’ go-ahead touchdown, giving the Chiefs’ offense an easier chance at a comeback win.

Walker, who set the NFL on fire in the first five games with Kansas City, has appeared mortal the last two.

His old team, Seattle, bottled up Walker, while Denver limited him to 21 carries for 69 yards with four catches for 15 yards.

It's not that Walker isn't running hard or hasn't also shown game-breaking ability, but wouldn't everyone love for him to stay fresh for the stretch run and see more of what the exciting rookie can do?

Mahomes ends TD drought

Mahomes hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass in nearly a month — more than nine quarters of game time — entering Sunday.

To be fair, the Chiefs had a bye in October, but Mahomes didn’t have any passing touchdowns in the first two games after the week off, a home win against the Los Angeles Chargers and a road loss at Seattle.

You have to go all the way back to the second play of the fourth quarter in an Oct. 4 win at Las Vegas to find Mahomes’ last TD toss, but he conjured some Ricky Mountain magic with Rashee Rice back in the lineup for the first time since that 30-27 victory against the Raiders.

After going three-and-out, including a third-down throwaway, on the opening drive, Mahomes went 5-of-5 for 48 yards on Kansas City’s second drive, which ended with an easy 11-yard pass and catch for a touchdown to Rice on a crossing route.

The Chiefs failed to reach the red zone in last week’s loss to the Seahawks for the first time in Mahomes’ career, but that changed on the seven-play, 69-yard drive for Kansas City’s first touchdown in more than six quarters — since Walker scored late in the second quarter of a Week 6 win against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Mahomes, who finished 13 of 19 for 196 yards with two touchdowns in the first half, added the 73-yard touchdown to Johnson in the second quarter, though the rookie running back did a lot of the work on that one.

Three plays after Xavier Worthy broke up a sure interception at the goal line, Mahomes fired his third touchdown pass, a 4-yard dart to Noah Gray, for a 24-13 lead.

After opening the season with four consecutive multi-touchdown games, it was Mahomes’ second three-touchdown game this season (Indianapolis) and the 49th of his career. He also has nine playoff games with at least three TD throws.

Mahomes finished 30 of 41 for 321 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He made enough plays to win, except once the Chiefs got in a goal-to-go situation in the closing seconds.

These are the kinds of games Kansas City used to excel in, the ones that built Mahomes' legacy, the ones needed to make the postseason and then a deep run.

Maybe the magic's run out, or maybe it's still coming, but it's been a while since it's felt inevitable.

4th-down confusion

For all the penalties along with yet another gaffe from Butker, the game may not have needed to come down to the closing seconds if Reid hadn’t punted on fourth-and-inches near midfield early in the fourth quarter.

Johnson caught a swing pass and dove toward the first-down marker near the sideline, only for the ball to be spotted inches short.

Reid mistakenly thought it was fourth-and-2 from his own 41-yard line and sent out Matt Araiza to punt the ball away.

The kick sailed into the end zone for a touchback, and Denver’s comeback started on the ensuing drive, but Reid said he didn’t realize how close Kansas City was to a drive-extending first down.

“The guy (game official) that was holding the ball, spotting the ball, was 2 yards away from the ball, so that’s where it’s supposed to be spotted,” Reid said. “And then, clock’s running and then they move the ball up to a foot for a fourth down. So, that’s what happened. Mechanically, I wasn’t sure exactly how they were operating with that.”

Reid declined to say he absolutely would have gone for it had he known the correct spot, but he was seen in a heated discussion with officials during the TV timeout after the punt.

“That’s all hindsight, but it would have made for a good decision right there,” Reid said.

Hindsight? Perhaps. But it is inexcusable not to recognize it at some point before giving the Araiza's kick, even if Kansas City had to burn a timeout and make the correct decision, the one that gives the Chiefs the best chance to win.

That is, after all, the coaching staff's job.

Rice returns

Rice made his presence felt with seven catches for 53 yards and that first-quarter touchdown.

He was Kansas City’s top receiver entering the season and showed in the first few weeks of the season before a hamstring injury early in a Week 4 game at Las Vegas.

Rice caught a touchdown in the season-opening win against Denver on Sept. 15 at Arrowhead and topped 80 yards in wins against Indianapolis and Miami before the injury.

The offense struggled a week ago in Seattle without Rice and both starting tackles, but the Chiefs outgained the Broncos by more than 100 yards (399-294) and churned out the second most productive passing game of the season in Rice’s return.

Kansas City had 309 net passing yards, trailing only the 371 net passing yards from the overtime win against the Colts this season.

Injury report

Defensive tackle Peter Woods (neck) left the game late in the first quarter. He was listed as questionable to return.

Woods was downgraded to out early in the fourth quarter.

Broncos safety Brandon Jones, who entered the game questionable with a hamstring injury, left during the second half after reaggravating the injury.

—