Four takeaways from the Broncos' loss to the Kansas City Chiefs

Once again, the Broncos lost on Thursday.

The Denver Broncos took a quick trip to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs at GEHA Stadium on Thursday Night Football. Denver didn’t score until the fourth quarter, but had made the Chiefs sweat a little in a 19-8 loss.

The Broncos are now 1-5 this season, while the Chiefs improve to 5-1. The Chiefs have beaten the Broncos in 16 consecutive matchups. The teams will face off again in Denver in two weeks.

Here’s what went down in Kansas City…

Sean Screwed Up

The Chiefs took the ball at their own 25 with more than six minutes on the clock and an eight-point lead. If the Broncos’ defense stopped them, the offense would get a chance to force overtime.

The defense couldn’t get the stopped, and the Chiefs walked away with a field goal and an 11-point lead that essentially ended the game.

But that field goal didn’t have to end the game.

Before halftime, Sean Payton called a baffling timeout. The Broncos faced a fourth down with 22 seconds on the clock. Instead of forcing the Chiefs to call a timeout and make the Broncos punt the ball away, Payton called the timeout himself.

“It was a boneheaded mistake by me,” Payton said after the game.

The Chiefs went 19 yards in 15 seconds and kicked a field goal before halftime. Maybe they would have come away with points regardless of the timeout—they went into halftime with a timeout left over—but Payton gave Kansas City a freebie that might have impacted the outcome of the game.

Javonte Bounced Back

After missing last week’s game with a hip injury, Javonte Williams returned to the field in Kansas City.

Undrafted rookie Jaleel McLaughlin registered the start and ran for nine yards on the first play of the game, but Williams received the majority of the work at running back.

Williams carried the ball 10 times for 52 yards. Four of those carries resulted in fourth downs. He also ran in a two-point conversion. He broke a handful of tackles and was the most productive player in the Broncos’ offense.

McLaughlin entered the game with a 7.2 yards per carry average, which would have ranked second in the NFL if he’d carried the ball enough to qualify for rate stats. On Thursday, McLaughlin carried the ball seven times for 30 yards. His two catches totaled 12 yards.

Sutton Steps Up

Courtland Sutton gave the Broncos life in the fourth quarter when he reeled in an 11-yard touchdown pass with one hand on the edge of the end zone. The rest of his day was fairly quiet—he finished with 46 yards on four catches—but he was still the bright spot among the Broncos’ receivers.

Samaje Perine was the Broncos second-leading receiver with 16 yards. Jerry Jeudy—whose beef with five-time Pro Bowl receiver and current NFL Network analyst Steve Smith stole headlines prior to the game—caught three passes for 14 yards, which was the third-most among Broncos.

Unsurprisingly considering those numbers, quarterback Russell Wilson had his worst outing of the season. He completed 13 of his 22 passes for 95 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. All of those numbers were his worst mark of the season, as was his 46.6 passer rating.

Can’t Stop Kelce

Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was questionable to play on Thursday because of an ankle injury, but he participated, and he made his presence felt.

Kelce caught nine passes for 124 yards, finding gaps in the Broncos’ coverage over and over again. Every pass Patrick Mahomes threw his way was completed. Five of the passes went for first downs.

Outside of Kelce, the Broncos most held the Chiefs in check. They ran for less than 100 yards on 3.6 yards per carry. Only one other receiver had 50 yards. Patrick Mahomes completed 30 of 40 passes for 306 yards with a touchdown and an interception.