“We just died tonight”: Denver's defense doesn’t deliver at the end

DENVER, Colo. — A coin always has two sides. For the past 18 months the coin has landed on the Denver Broncos side nearly every single time at the end of the game.

On Sunday night, the coin finally landed on the other side, resulting in a 30-27 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

“We’ve been on the other side of these wins 50-million times,” outside linebacker Von Miller said. “It’s the National Football League and we’ve gotten the better end of these games and that was just one that we did not complete, one that we did not get.”

The Broncos fell to the Chiefs in the most unexpected form: a meltdown by the defense at the end of the game. In the final 3:00 minutes of the fourth quarter the Chiefs drove 75-yards, scored a touchdown and converted a two-point conversion to tie the game at 24 with 12 seconds left in the game.

“That’s not like us,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. “That’s uncharacteristic of our defense and that’s something that we just got to look at ourselves in the mirror and see how we can finish the game better.”

Although the Broncos gave up less than 300 yards of offense to the Chiefs, an impressive feat, the defense allowed 140 yards in the fourth quarter and overtime.

“I thought we played a great game overall, but when we needed it the most we just couldn’t get it done,” outside linebacker Todd Davis said. “We had the game won a couple of times and we should have gotten it done.”

With 1:03 left in overtime head coach Gary Kubiak sent out kicker Brandon McManus to end the game on a 61-yard field goal. If it went in the game was over. If it missed, the game was in the defenses hands. The kick wasn’t even close.

“’Kube’ he shows the most confidence in our team, McManus and the defense,” Harris said. “We usually come through for him and make those plays and we didn’t come through.”

Kansas City then drove the ball 27 yards on four plays to set up the game winning 33yard field goal. Although there were plenty of situations where the coaches made crucial decisions, Harris said the loss is entirely on the player’s shoulders.

“It was just us, we didn’t execute the call,” Harris said. “It’s like we went brain dead as a defense on that last drive…we went brain dead on [the last drive against the New Orleans Saints], we could have lost that game [too]. Two weeks in a row the same thing happened and we got to fix it.”

The tricky part for the Broncos is there isn’t an exact science to coaching clutch moments. After seemingly having the answer at the end of games since 2015, the defense is left wondering how to fix the problem.

“I don’t know man, it’s something we’ve got to figure out how to finish the game strong,” Harris said. “I don’t know man, that’s a tough question, that’s a good question.”

It wasn’t that the defense didn’t play a good game either; it just came down to a lack of execution on the final drive of the fourth quarter and overtime.

“We had the game in control,” Harris said. “We played great defense until the last drive, so of course we are sick and don’t feel good about it at all.”

In the middle of a tight playoff race, the Broncos know how high the stakes are, and tonight they came up short.

“You can tell by Kubiak going for the win, [it was] do or die,” Harris said. “We just died tonight.”

What used to be a sure thing is now seemingly another major question mark on this team: will the Broncos’ defense rise to the occasion or flop at the end of the game.