Highlight-Reel Plays, Turnovers Define Chiefs Wild Win In Denver -

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It was a wild game, full of many different changes in momentum on Sunday in Denver. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Broncos by a score of 34-28. It was a tail of two halves from each team on both sides of the ball. In the end, Kansas City moved to 10-3, while Denver fell to 3-10. The Chiefs still have some items to clean up, overall. But for both teams, this game was defined by highlight-reel plays and numerous turnovers.

Those items will be where we direct our attention in today’s FPC Chiefs reaction article. Kansas City’s magic-like plays on offense continue to wow and display the brilliance that the Chiefs can ultimately reach. In other spots, the kinds of mistakes that are being made are simply head-scratching. That is especially true, when you consider that we are entering the middle of December.

Whether it was positive or negative, Kansas City has many lessons to take away from this outing in Denver. What sort of defensive mistakes must be corrected? Plus, can the Chiefs continue to gain steam off of highlight-reel plays? Let’s kick it off.

Mahomes Magic Keeps Chiefs Alive

Sometimes, it is the unplanned frenzy of one-in-a-million type of plays that can get a team going. The Chiefs won that way throughout the passing game on numerous occasions. Offensively, Patrick Mahomes went into his bag of tricks, producing game-changing plays that seem all to normal to him. His early no-look, underhanded hook shot to Jerick McKinnon gave Kansas City noticeable momentum and energy. A late touchdown pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster certainly involved some magic and heroics. From Mahomes himself, he was able to create necessary time and space by twirling around and circling back forward in the pocket. Eventually, he was able to deliver a strike to a wide-open Smith-Schuster. On the last drive, Mahomes also made a difficult pass look quite easy. As he scrambled to his right, the Chiefs moved the chains as Mahomes threw with utter strength to the outside perimeter and hit Marquez Valdes-Scantling. This all but sealed the Broncos’ hopes.

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Turnovers Galore

As we have discussed here and there recently, the giveaways from the Chiefs offense have been both late in games and with horrid fundamentals. Mahomes appeared to not see lurking defenders in between pass catchers in zones. From a fundamental standpoint, this was one of the first times in a while that he failed to constantly work through his progressions. Furthermore, Mahomes also seemed to rush certain throws as well.

You have to wonder about the lack of stops by the defense against a poor Broncos offense. Surely, Kansas City stopped Denver one or two times here and there. But overall, the Chiefs gave the Broncos wide-open looks, failed to make tackles in space and was too soft while attempting to cover in the red zone.

Thankfully for the Chiefs defense, Kansas City got some takeaways of their own on Sunday. Getting hit during the release of the ball and tremendously bad decision-making is what crushed Denver’s quarterbacks in those moments, leading to those specific turnovers. Finding better balance and cleaner football in these phases are crucial for this Chiefs team down the stretch before playoff games start.

What To Make Of Kansas City’s Defense

How worried should we be about the Chiefs defense? It was not all bad. At one point, Kansas City had the pass rush rolling, was making smart decisions in space and created more energy with a dagger-like takeaway by Willie Gay. The Chiefs jumped out to a 27-0 lead, due to some of those aspects on defense in the first half.

Yet afterwards, the Chiefs looked lost. Kansas City did not have the same motivation and emphatic passion that was shown early on. Simply put, Denver was playing harder in certain moments. The defensive gaffes by Kansas City seemed to all be simple, once again. Of course, this allowed the Broncos to get back in it and make things somewhat nervous.

All in all, the Chiefs got lost in coverage, while also having some miscommunication in the secondary. Kansas City continued to miss tackles in the flats or near the line of scrimmage, to boot. Lastly, the Chiefs were unable to stay in position underneath on some third downs. Without those mistakes, the Chiefs get off the field earlier and limit points off the scoreboard. Fixing those issues may not take much. But currently, those items are just killing Kansas City far too often in critical situations.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.