DNVR Watches: Five things you might have missed from Chiefs at Broncos 1998

Seven days after the Broncos’ 35-31 win over the Chiefs moved them to 13-0 in the 1998 season, their bid to become the first perfect team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins ended at Giants Stadium.

In Denver’s rally past Kansas City for its 18th consecutive win dating back to Week 17 of the 1997 campaign, harbingers of the eventual end of the club’s longest winning streak abounded: self-inflicted miscues, special-teams gaffes and a weak spot in the secondary that both the Chiefs and Giants would exploit.

But this win also showed why the Broncos would remain the favorite to roll through the playoffs and win Super Bowl XXXIII, as they eventually did. They had an offense that had so many weapons, no defense could contain it for long.

And of course, they had John Elway at quarterback. Even in his playing twilight, he still had that same old magic that bailed out the Broncos so many times.

Here are five things that jumped out from the broadcast and our look back:

1. GREATNESS ALL AROUND

How stacked was this Broncos offense?

Consider this: All but six of the points scored by the Broncos in the game were accounted for by Ring of Famers —- and the one exception is one of the Ring’s most glaring omissions.

• Terrell Davis: Three touchdown runs
• Shannon Sharpe: One touchdown pass from John Elway
• Ed McCaffrey: One touchdown pass from Elway
• Jason Elam: Five extra points

Each of those names but McCaffrey is on the 500-level facade at Mile High. The case for McCaffrey is strong, given that he is one of five Broncos in the franchise’s top five all-time in receptions, receiving yardage and touchdowns. The others are Smith, Sharpe, Lionel Taylor and Demaryius Thomas. The first three are Ring of Famers and Thomas likely will join them in the next decade.

It was a pick-your-poison attack. McCaffrey’s 48-yard catch came on a play where he was wide open because Kansas City’s free safety lurched forward to try and contain Davis, leaving McCaffrey in soft one-on-one coverage that he exploited.

Even Willie Green, a reasonably productive journeyman receiver in his final NFL season, got in on the act with a 50-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter. It was Green’s longest reception in his two seasons as a Bronco.

But don’t forget the stars on defense, either. None stood taller over the course of his career than Steve Atwater. In this game, the eventual Hall of Famer made a four-point-play at the expense of another Canton inductee, Tony Gonzalez. Atwater swatted away a Rich Gannon pass for Gonzalez in the fourth quarter, preventing a sure touchdown. Kansas City settled for a field goal.

The four points Atwater prevented the Chiefs from scoring ended up being the final margin.

2. ONE OF ELWAY’S LAST HURRAHS

Our first #DNVRWatches Broncos game focused on Elway’s first professional fourth-quarter comeback, when he led the Broncos back from a 19-0 deficit to a 21-19 win over the Baltimore Colts on Dec. 11, 1983.

This was his last fourth-quarter rally as a pro, with the Broncos trailing 31-21 after Pete Stoyanovich’s 20-yard field goal with 8:25 remaining in regulation.

One minute and 37 seconds later, Elway had the Broncos in the end zone via Davis’ third touchdown run, a play set up by the 50-yard completion to Green on third-and-7 from the Broncos 49-yard line.

Elway accounted for 89 yards and a touchdown on 4-of-5 passing after the Chiefs took that 10-point lead. He finished the afternoon with 400 yards. It was the second-highest total of his career and the most for him in one game since 1985.

“This one was like old times,” Elway told media after the game.

There was one more second-half comeback up Elway’s sleeve, when he brought the Broncos back from a 10-0 third-quarter deficit in the 1998 AFC Championship Game against the New York Jets. But that day, his work came before the final quarter; the thrust of that rally came in the third quarter, when the Broncos scored 20 unanswered points.

3. PERFECTION DENIED

Elam entered the game a flawless 18-of-18 on field-goal attempts and 47-of-47 on extra points. Leslie O’Neal put a stop to that early in the fourth quarter when he got a hand on Elam’s 37-yard field-goal attempt. With three extra points in the game already in his back pocket, that ended Elam’s season-opening streak of successful placekicks at 68.

It was a day of unlikely circumstances for the Broncos. Davis’ fumble near the goal line in the third quarter was his first fumble in 443 carries. Tom Rouen also dropped a punt snap that was recovered by Kansas City’s Greg Manusky, and the two lost fumbles were the most by the Broncos in 20 regular-season games.

4. THIS WAS ONE OF THE FINAL GAMES BEFORE INSTANT REPLAY RETURNED

The NFL’s first attempt at instant replay lasted six seasons, ending after the 1991 season. Its second foray, based around coach-instituted challenges prior to the final two minutes of the game, would prove to be more successful.

This date — Dec. 6, 1998 – was also the date of the Jets’ 32-31 win over Seattle, a score that occasionally flashed at the bottom of the screen on the CBS broadcast. In that game, Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde appeared to have fallen short of the goal line on fourth-and-goal with 27 seconds left. But the officials ruled that the football was across the goal line, and with no instant replay, the Seahawks absorbed a loss that ended up costing them a playoff spot.

Replay was not needed in the Broncos-Chiefs encounter. There was a legitimate argument that Chiefs wide receiver Joe Horn shoved Broncos cornerback Tito Paul before catching a 26-yard touchdown pass with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter. But no call came — and as we saw in 2019, even with the ability to challenge pass interference, no call likely would have come.

It was a precursor of more frustration to come for Paul. A week later, Amani Toomer beat Paul in the right side of the end zone for a 37-yard touchdown catchfrom Kent Graham, giving the Giants a 20-16 win that ended the Broncos’ 18-game winning streak.

5. THE CONFIDENCE OF CHAMPIONS

Even with deficits of 21-7 in the first quarter and 31-21 in the fourth, the Broncos never panicked.

“You can’t have doubt,” Smith told The (Colorado Springs) Gazette-Telegraph after the game. “Doubt is strictly for losers, and we’re not losers. We’re champions.”

Champions the season before. Champions again in 1998.

This Week 14 win in 1998 over the Chiefs had suspense. But it also showed why these Broncos were the not only the best in franchise history, but also one of the elite teams in NFL annals.