Poor Situational Football Dooms Chiefs’ Offense Against Denver

The Kansas City Chiefs lost their second straight game, 28-24, against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, falling to 5-2. The loss propelled Denver to first place in the AFC West standings and should leave the Chiefs scratching their heads.

The Chiefs offense was fairly productive all game, with big plays from quarterback Patrick Mahomes and rookie running back Emmet Johnson.

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Chiefs led 24-13, but ended the game with a punt, a missed field goal, and a turnover on downs in the final minutes.

The Chiefs’ offense outgained Denver by nearly 100 yards, but lingering third-down issues and poor situational football led to critical failures in the game’s largest moments.

First possession of the fourth quarter

The fourth quarter started well for the Chiefs, with running back Kenneth Walker converting a third down and keeping the clock running.

After gaining four yards on a zone-read look on first down, Mahomes barely missed Kelce on second down on a pass that would have put the Chiefs past midfield and in the driver’s seat.

On the ensuing third down, Mahomes would go to Johnson, who had a monster game up to that point.

This look is somewhere between an option and a rollout pass to Johnson. As it turned into a downfield pass, right tackle Jaylon Moore was deemed too far downfield, and officials called an illegal man downfield penalty; meanwhile, Johnson got as close as he could to a first down.

It is hard to know the series of events on the field, but Johnson was ruled down about a foot short of a first, and then Denver head coach Sean Payton declined the penalty, making it fourth-and-1.

No review of the play was made, but once Payton declined the penalty, this locked in his decision and would have given the Chiefs a chance to go for it on fourth down.

The Chiefs punt unit quickly ran to the field, where the ball was booted into the end zone for a touchback. Nine plays later, the Broncos scored and converted a two-point conversion to cut the deficit to three with less than nine minutes to play.

The decision to kick

The Chiefs would start their next drive on a positive note as they looked to drive the ball and burn time off the clock.

With just under four minutes to play, the Chiefs had picked up another first down, with Walker and Johnson both contributing against a tired-looking Denver defensive front.

With the run game finally firing, and Denver on the ropes, the next set of Chiefs plays was baffling.

The Chiefs ran a screen to Rashee Rice outside, which, in theory, would strain the legs of the already-tired defense, but Rice made a poor choice to cut back inside instead of following his blocks to the outside and was tackled for only a two-yard gain.

On the next play, the Chiefs ran a similar look to Walker.

The screen to Walker appears to have been meant to take the defense by surprise, but they quickly swarm around Walker and prevent a larger gain. The play still gained six yards, and it would open up a manageable third-and-two.

The next play and ensuing decision would shape the end of the game.

The Chiefs’ run game had been ineffective for most of the game, but Walker and Johnson had started to wear down the defense’s tired legs.

The Chiefs came out of the gun needing two yards for a first, and they ran a rollout look, but the play quickly broke down. Walker is responsible for the first man off the line, but the edge rusher knocks him back, stopping the rollout. This disrupts Mahomes timing and prevents him from seeing Kelce flashing across the screen.

With no one else open, Mahomes takes a costly sack, putting the Chiefs in a situation where going for it on fourth and short is no longer an option.

Loyal Andy Reid trotted out Harrison Butker to attempt a 54-yard kick, and it ended up wide right.

The Broncos got the ball back in prime field position and scored in two plays to take a four-point lead.

The Chiefs got one more shot, and it came down to the red zone.

Final drive

A monster Johnson kickoff return put the Chiefs in business, and it took them four plays to set up a first-and-goal at the Denver four-yard line. After an eight-yard shovel pass, the Chiefs let the clock run from 1:05 to 35 seconds.

A Walker run would move the ball to the one-yard line.

Out of timeouts, Denver could only wait, but then the Chiefs used a timeout of their own.

On their first crack from the one, the Chiefs went with an old favorite— the corndog —but Denver was ready.

With nine seconds to play, the Chiefs tried to run the ball again with Walker, but Denver was ready.

Denver’s defensive line pinches down, and a free runner comes through at the line to stuff Walker for no gain.

On the next play, it appeared that the Chiefs had won, but a penalty on Moore wiped it away and set up a fourth-and-6.

On the game’s final play, Mahomes would take a sack on a poorly designed look.

The play was poorly protected, and none of the Chiefs’ receivers found any daylight againt the Broncos’ man coverage.

The bottom line

There is more than one reason that led to this loss, but the poor situational football was a large culprit for the offenses implosion late in the game.

The Chiefs short yardage conversions have become an issue, and there is a path to succsuess, but it would involve the team doing something they have not done in over seven years.

The quarterback sneak is one of the most efficient plays in the history of the game, and the Chies blatant refusal to do so has cost the team due to a freak accident.

Even if the team decides to execute the plays with Mahomes on the sideline, backup quarterback Justin Fields should be more than capable of getting the job done.

The run game was bottled up, but the decsion to run a rollout look leading to a sack was inexcusable, especially when there was a hot hand like Johnson ready to go. Running the ball takes comitment, but if the rock is pounded enough times it will eventually break. Relying on one of the worst reciever rooms in the NFL to produce consistently in key moments is not an option.

The decsion to allow Butker kick, to only put the team up six points may be one of the worst of Reid’s career.

The inability to score from the one yard line against a gassed defense with no timeouts, and relying on old tricks like “corndog” that half the field for a wizard like Mahomes can no longer be accpeted, especially when the main target runs out of bounds.

Starting one of the worst interor offensvie lienmen in the NFL inexplicably for the second time this season can also no longer be tolerated, especially when his body of work provides no evidence he has earned a stating spot, and his backup this week did not play with little context from the organization.

The 2026 Chiefs have the offensive talent to remain one of the leagues best units, and they showd what they are capable of multiple times through the course of the game. The key situations, and bad decisions on critical downs are what seperates them from a two game division lead, and the race they will be in with the Broncos the rest of the season.

The wrongs can me made right, but a plan needs to be put in place for these short yardage situations, what to do with Butker, and how the offensive line will look.

November is here, and as the schedule gets tougher, the games get bigger. It will be worth watching to see how the Chiefs perform as the pressure builds.