Postgame Cold Snacks: A pathetic showing

DENVER — Battered, bruised and beaten, the Chiefs limped into Empower Field at Mile High without five starters — and then they lost Patrick Mahomes to a knee injury in the second quarter.

This Chiefs team, in terms of personnel, was a shadow of itself.

And it was still enough to throttle the Broncos 30-6 Thursday night.

In an embarrassing performance, the Broncos mustered their lowest point total in 71 prime-time home games, a history that dates back to a 23-23 tie with the Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football in 1973.

All six of the points came on the Broncos’ opening drive, when they drove 75 yards to a 1-yard Royce Freeman touchdown run. However, that march was aided by two Chiefs penalties that wiped out third-down stops.

Without those infractions, the Broncos would have been starting at a home shutout.

A Kansas City pass rush that lacked Chris Jones — who came into the game leading the Chiefs in quarterback pressures — destroyed Joe Flacco and the Broncos’ passing game, sacking him eight times.

The Chiefs recorded another sack of Colby Wadman on an ill-advised fake punt early in the second quarter. He faked a handoff, rolled left, looked downfield — and saw no receiving targets in front of him. With the Chiefs bearing down, there was little Wadman could do but take the sack, setting up the Chiefs for a short drive to a field goal.

QUICK BITES

• In Week 3, Joe Flacco absorbed a career-high six sacks in the loss at Green Bay. Thursday night, that record was obliterated, as the Chiefs brought Flacco down eight times.
• Defensive end DeMarcus Walker was one of the few lights shining through the darkness for the Broncos. He posted a fourth-quarter sack of Chiefs backup quarterback Matt Moore.
• The Broncos opened the game in a unique set, with Andy Janovich and Andrew Beck functioning as H-backs, aligned behind the left and right sides of the offensive line. It was a formation that hearkened back to Joe Gibbs’ Washington offenses in the 1980s. The Broncos used the alignment again on their third snap of the second half. That play ended in an incompletion.
• The announced attendance was 74,121, with 2,627 no-shows.