ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Kansas City Chiefs have their John Elway in Patrick Mahomes.

Vic Fangio said it on Monday, the 2018 MVP award said it and Mahomes’ incredibly hot start to the 2019 season says it.

There’s no ifs ands or butts about it, at least from all of the early indications.

Through five weeks of the NFL season, the third-year quarterback has the most passing yards in the league (350.7 per game), the second-most touchdown passes (14), the second-fewest interceptions (1), the second-best passer rating (111.9) and the fifth-fewest sacks (8).

He’s good, alright.

But shutting him down isn’t the key to beating the Chiefs, although it certainly wouldn’t hurt. Instead, Denver’s defense will have their eyes on the other aspect of the Chiefs’ dangerous offense.

“We’ve got to be solid with the run game for sure because if they get started running the ball and they’re running all over the place, it’s going to be impossible to win that game,” Von Miller stated without hesitation on Tuesday, putting out a blueprint for Denver on Thursday night.

Excuse me, what? Denver won’t be able to win if they can’t shut down the Chiefs below-average run game, not anything about the magnificent Mahomes?

Andy Reid’s offense is no joke. But the run game is the ninth-worst in the league, only averaging 82.7 yards per game on an average 4.0 yards per carry.

So why’s Denver emphasizing shutting it down?

While they’re a bottom-10 rushing team, the Chiefs have been incredibly inconsistent, rushing for 113, 31, 140, 123, 36 and 53 yards in their respective six games this season. In two of the three games they were held under 100 yards, Week 5 and Week 6, they lost their only two games of the season.

Von said there are a lot of different factors for Kansas City’s inconsistent rushing attack, but that, “primarily, they’re just really good throwing the ball.”

“I feel like they get out of the run game when they can just stick with it, try and get past those two and three-yard gains, and eventually they’ll turn into like five or six,” Miller said, taking a deep look at his division rival. “They just get out of it early, and they’re just really good at passing the ball. We can’t let them do both—100 percent. If we let them do both, it’ll be over.”

Von didn’t beat around the bush. If Denver can’t stop Kansas City’s ground attack, the game will be over before it even started. They’ll be donezo and have no chance. It’ll be impossible to win.

The good news is Denver found two major contributors in the middle of their run defense in Mike Purcell and Alexander Johnson in the past two weeks, when Denver’s held their opponents to 35 and 39 rushing yards, respectively.

“He’s big, strong, he eats up two guys. He’s a beast in the run game,” Miller said about the 328-pound defensive tackle, Purcell. “Particularly for me, I can just play my guy, I don’t have to worry about playing two or three guys because when it comes to the run game, he’s going to eat up two or three guys so I can just play on the edge and do my job.”

As for the “Dinosaur” roaming in the middle of Denver’s defense, well, Von thinks he’s “incredible.”

“He’s been doing all the stuff that he’s been doing on the field on the practice field,” Miller said about Johnson. “It’s just inspiring and just dope to see how far he’s come to have all the success on the football field. It’s just dope. We spent time together in the offseason boxing and stuff, and you get to know him a little bit more, and he’s just a dope guy. I’m happy that he’s starting to see success on the football field.”

Denver’s not only riding a two-game win streak, but they’ve also absolutely shutdown two good rushing attacks in the past two weeks.

On the other hand, the Chiefs enter Thursday night’s matchup having lost their last two games, only rushing for 89 yards combined.

If Denver wants to extend their winning streak to three games, Von Miller believes their run defense will be stout for a third-straight week. Make no mistake about it.