Kansas City Chiefs fans can go to bed very happy tonight after holding on to beat the now 1-5 Denver Broncos 19-8 on Thursday Night Football in Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs jetted out to an early 13-0 lead in the first half after Travis Kelce showcased how fit his right ankle was, hauling in 7 receptions for 109 yards on 7 targets. Kelce would end the primetime contest with 9 receptions for 124 yards. Kelce was able to carve through the Broncos’ secondary in the first half assisting in Patrick Mahomes’s night, 30/40 for 308 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. Mahomes continues to make some questionable turnovers this season after having some struggles in the redzone tonight and being held to only one touchdown scored. Russell Wilson has not been the sole to blame in the Broncos lackluster start to the 2023 season, but tonight Wilson struggled from the opening kickoff. Wilson went 13/22 for 95 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. Wilson and the Broncos were able to establish a pretty serviceable run game early on but Wilson was unable to make any throws down field to keep Mahomes and the Chiefs offense on the sideline. The Broncos defense can be proud of only allowing one touchdown and four field goals against a potent Chiefs offense, but the Broncos are still stuck in the rut of being unable to put complete football games together.
Mahomes to Kelce for the 7th time in the half 🎯#DENvsKC on Prime Video
— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2023
Also available on #NFLPlus https://t.co/U9rA3YdBnZ pic.twitter.com/q2IoXTcnA2
After falling to 1-5 on the season, the Denver Broncos must now fully commit to the tank. Embracing the tank needs to come directly from the front office after the team that has been assembled has shown that it cannot produce a consistent winning product. The Russell Wilson experiment has exposed the major mistake in signing him to that massive contract, but also the weapons around him that have underperformed. Former first round pick Jerry Jeudy has vastly underperformed for someone with first round draft stock. As the trade deadline looms, October 31st, do not be surprised to see big names like Jerry Jeudy and Cortland Sutton to be mentioned in trade rumors. The Broncos made a long term investment that has not panned out with Wilson and now must try to stop the bleeding by completely blowing up the roster. It will be interesting to see if the Broncos sit Wilson if the team continues to be one of the worst three teams in the NFL. Even though they lost, holding Mahomes and a hot Kelce to one touchdown is no easy feat.The Broncos look to bounce back in week 7 as the up and down Green Bay Packers come to the Mile High City.
Chiefs now hold the NFL’s longest active winning streak vs. one team, beating the Broncos 16 consecutive times.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 13, 2023
Patrick Mahomes won his 100th career start Thursday night in Kansas City and also extended the Chiefs streak of beating Denver to 16 straight games. Mahomes has still never lost to the Broncos and is now 80-20 as a regular season starter. As Mahomes continues to be the best quarterback and arguably player in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs continue to find ways to win football games despite the lack of offensive weapons. The two major factors to how this team continues to win are found in Isaiah Pacheco and the Chiefs defense. Pacheco has come into his own after breaking out in his rookie year last season and has continued to show his growth in this league. Pacheco ran for 62 yards tonight but has continued to be a great change of pace option for the Chiefs whether using him on the ground or through the air. The Chiefs continue to represent the model of consistency for the rest of the NFL and with the tenacity that their defense contains will only keep this trend rolling. The Chiefs defense struggled some with containing Denver’s rushing offense tonight but were able to keep putting pressure on Russell Wilson to practically stop their offense. If the Chiefs defense can continue to support the offense at this capacity the Chiefs will have yet another postseason run in them if Kelce and cast can stay healthy. The 5-1 Chiefs welcome the LA Chargers to town next Sunday in another divisional matchup that could turn into a shootout between Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert.
