Broncos overcome Bo Nix, bad offense and Chiefs in wondrous win: Winners and losers

Broncos overcome Bo Nix, bad offense and Chiefs in wondrous win: Winners and losers.

Key points

• Well, this time, Denver's defense held Walker to 69 yards on 21 carries (3.3 yards per rush), led by Alex Singleton's 14 tackles (six solo).
• USA TODAY Sports' Jarrett Bell catches up with Broncos coach Sean Payton as he reflects on his 200th career NFL win after defeating the Chiefs.
• The outcome not only avenged Denver's lopsided Week 1 loss at Kansas City, it marked coach Sean Payton's 200th career victory (including postseason).
• The Broncos coach won his 200th NFL game (including postseason) in his 300th regular-season game.
• It concluded with Malcolm Roach sacking Mahomes for a 6-yard loss as the quarterback tried to escape the outside rush of Jonathan Cooper.

Broncos overcome Bo Nix, bad offense and Chiefs in wondrous win: Winners and losers. Jarrett Bell USA TODAY. Sean Payton reaches 200 career wins as Broncos defeat Chiefs.

USA TODAY Sports' Jarrett Bell catches up with Broncos coach Sean Payton as he reflects on his 200th career NFL win after defeating the Chiefs. DENVER – Don't count out the Denver Broncos.

That statement was true in more ways than one at Empower Field on Sunday as they rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit, then applied a goal-line stand in the final seconds to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 28-24 and seize first place in the AFC West.

For context, a loss would have probable concluded the quest for the Broncos (6-2) to repeat as division champs and given the Chiefs (5-2) a virtual three-game lead in the A-West race.

"It's the hard-to-kill mentality, " Broncos cornerback Riley Moss remarked. "You know what I mean? You can obtain shot a couple times, but we're still going to be crawling, we're still going to be trying to finish the job."

Meanwhile, the game came down to a final play from Denver's 6-yard line with four seconds to play and Patrick Mahomes – who had already thrown for three touchdowns – staring at the end zone.

"Coop did a great job rushing off the edge, and once he flushed him, he stepped right to me, " Roach remarked. "I just had to get him down."

In practice, the outcome not only avenged Denver's lopsided Week 1 loss at Kansas City, it marked coach Sean Payton's 200th career victory (including postseason). After trailing 24-13 to start the fourth quarter, Payton's resilient team notched a 15th consecutive victory in a one-score game, and fittingly.

"There's a belief that can get stronger, and then there's experience, and then you're seeing it a little, " Payton remarked, reflecting on the comebacks dating to last season. "But we still have a lot of things to fix."

Denver's defensive tackle corralled Patrick Mahomes for the sack that concluded the game – and sealed the improbable comeback on the game's final play. It was the biggest proof yet of how Roach, a seventh-year veteran, has expanded his game during the course of his career after breaking into the NFL primarily as a run stuffer. Roach registered all of one sack during his first four NFL seasons with the Saints. In two-and-a-half years with the Broncos, he's collected 10 sacks – and gives some of the credit for his development as a rusher to teammates Zach Allen and since-departed John Franklin-Meyers, whose role he has filled capably in third-down packages.

Call it a breakout game for Denver's fourth-round rookie running back from Washington. With J.K. Dobbins struggling and RJ Harvey placed on IR, Coleman stepped up to play a major role – and provide the clutch plays in crunch time to support put the Broncos over the top. Coleman went 51 yards on a "slipper boot" play – a short dump-off from Bo Nix as receivers Courtland Sutton and Jaylen Waddle cleared space by running post patterns to the opposite side – to set up his go-ahead 5-yard TD run. He finished with 104 yards from scrimmage.

Kansas City's rookie running back scored his first NFL touchdown in a major way – a 73-yard catch and run – in the second quarter to burn a Broncos blitz. Mahomes, under heavy pressure, managed to float a short, soft pass to Johnson in the flat in the nick of time. Then Johnson did the rest, streaking down the sideline with no defenders in sight. On the Chiefs' next possession, the fifth-round pick from Nebraska caught a pass in the right flat, broke a tackle attempt by Justin Strnad, then raced for a 38-yard catch and run that set up Harrison Butker's 45-yard field goal, 19 seconds before halftime. Johnson finished with 5 receptions for 128 yards as KC's most lethal weapon. He additionally had the most impressive run from scrimmage, a twisting, spinning effort for 15 yards in the third quarter.

In practice, the Broncos coach won his 200th NFL game (including postseason) in his 300th regular-season game. It's a milestone that he'll never forget, given the ending. Payton is the 12th coach in NFL history to reach 200 wins, hitting the mark in 320 games. Only five other coaches in NFL history – Don Shula, George Halas, Curly Lambeau, Bill Belichick and Paul Brown – reached 200 at a faster pace. Tom Landry was next-fastest, in 325 games.

He won again. Never mind that for much of the game it was not pretty, prompting boos. In the end, Nix stood tall. He passed for 222 yards and with two TD passes and no INTs for a 103.9 passer rating. And the bottom-line numbers included a 2-point conversion toss to Jaylen Waddle during that major 4th-quarter rally. Hey, sometimes it's not how you start but how you finish.

When they missed 28 tackles and allowed Kenneth Walker to rush for a career-high 173 yards on 23 carries in the 31-10 debacle, kudos to Denver's defensive coordinator, whose unit was so embarrassed in the season-opening loss at Kansas City. Well, this time, Denver's defense held Walker to 69 yards on 21 carries (3.3 yards per rush), led by Alex Singleton's 14 tackles (six solo).

Notably, the much-maligned Broncos quarterback had six passes deflected at the line of scrimmage. And that was just one of the problems during another dismal display of offense. Nix, who entered the game with the lowest average air yards-per-attempt (5.7), improved that mark with a few major completions. But the major plays were so far and few between. Then again, he won again at the end.

Four snaps from the 1-yard line and the Broncos seemed lucky to survive with Nix's TD toss to Jaylen Waddle after three consecutive runs netted nothing in the second quarter. Interestingly, the Broncos went with rookie running back Coleman rather that vet Dobbins, but to no avail. Coleman ran wide and into a wall. He was stuffed diving over the top. In between, Nix was cut down while rolling right. Wonder how effective this package would be with Jonathan Taylor as lead back? Then again, Coleman's 5-yard game-winning TD came at the right time.

Apparently, it's deeper than the play-calling. The Broncos converted just 2 of 11 third downs on Sunday, continuing a disturbing pattern that wasn't fixed when Sean Payton took over the play-calling from offensive coordinator Davis Webb. In four games since Payton took over the call sheet, Denver has converted 7 of 48 third downs. Atrocious.

Technically, Dobbins is still the starting running back. In reality, he's struggling to create significant impact as Coleman plays a bigger role. Dobbins finished with 13 yards on sever carries. In the days leading up to the game, Dobbins maintained that his limited time last week at Arizona was a reflection of load-management efforts that would support preserve him for the stretch run. That's plausible, given an injury history that has seen Dobbins play in just 11 regular-season games after Dec. 1 in his seven-year NFL career.

With a chance to offer the Chiefs a six-point lead in the final three minutes, Butker pushed a 54-yard field goal try wide right. After the two misses last week at Seattle left Butker with the lowest field goal rate of his career (68.8%, entering the game), this. And with Justin Tucker now in the wings – the Chiefs signed the former Ravens kicker to their practice squad last week – Butker is under more pressure than ever to save his job. Since the start of the 2025 campaign, Butker has missed 16 kicks.

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