Lammey: 3 big takeaways from Broncos loss to Chiefs in Week 12

The Denver Broncos lost a heart-wrenching game in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. After a first half that was full of great defensive play by the Chiefs, the Broncos offense was able to catch fire in the second half.

The Broncos took a 24-16 lead after a 76-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Siemian to Bennie Fowler with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

That seemed to have wrapped up the game, but resilient Chiefs team fought back with a long drive ending with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to tie the game to send the game into overtime.

Once in the extra period, both teams converted field goals, but it was the Broncos who could have finished off its opponent first with a 62-yarder and didn’t.

Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak seemed dejected after the game, especially when asked about his decision to attempt the 62-yard, game-winning field goal.

“It was very tough. The fact that we had no timeouts made me want to go in that direction. If you did have your timeouts maybe you think about punting it down there and see if you can get the ball back. I don’t know,” Kubiak said.

“We’re going to try to win. I’ve seen ‘B-Mac’ do that many times in practice. It’s on me. I just gave them a chance. I thought we could do it and we didn’t get it done. Give them credit.”

Here are the three biggest takeaways from the loss:

Too many penalties

The Broncos were penalized too much against the Chiefs. They had a whopping 15 penalties called against them — including one on Kubiak — on Sunday night. Those penalties resulted in 97 yards acquired by the Chiefs. Those penalties against Denver helped extend drives for Kansas City, and one special teams penalty turned a made field goal into a touchdown because of the extra opportunity.

Linebacker Von Miller said after the game that penalties happen, but they unit has to clean it up.

“(When) you have (97) yards of penalty yards, that’s not a good thing. The penalties, they’re going to happen. It’s just unfortunate that all of them were on the last drive,” Miller said. “We have to do a better job with that. We always do a good job with that, but it was just a tough patch right there.”

On the season, the Broncos have been called for the fifth-most penalties in the NFL. They have a total of 87 penalties called against them, with 34 on offense, 35 on defense and 18 on special teams.

The 704 penalty yards surrendered ranks 10th in the NFL this season. Going forward with a tough schedule — especially in the last three weeks of the regular season — Denver needs to do a better job of playing with improved discipline to cut down on these penalties.

Offensive line problems continue

On Sunday, second-year pro Ty Sambrailo started at right tackle ahead of veteran Donald Stephenson, who normally starts at the position when healthy. Sambrailo did not last long and was removed from the lineup at the 6:59 mark in the second quarter.

The main reason for Sambrailo’s benching was Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston. Just a game back from a knee injury that cost him most of the season, Houston looked in rare form against the Broncos. He finished the game with had 10 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble — and plenty of that came against Sambrailo early in the game.

After the game, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said he was anticipating on Houston having a big night.

“He had a good week of practice. Knocked the rust off. He told me once he got in the fourth quarter of last week he started feeling like he was getting everything back speed wise and game speed wise,” Reid said. “I anticipated that he would have a big game. He pushed himself and that whole defense did. That’s why I tip my hat off to him for the job that he’s done.”

The Broncos have already tried shuffling their group of starters up front, and the results weren’t what they hoped for. Going forward, their options are limited to the players inside the building and the scheme used within.

The biggest problem for this team resides in the trenches, and there is no easy answer for the rest of the regular season.

Bright spots in a tough loss

Even though it may seem otherwise with Denver currently out of the playoffs, the sky is not falling in Denver. This game felt like a gut punch to Broncos Country, but there are a couple of bright spots which need to be highlighted.

Trevor Siemian was called out by his coach during the bye week, and there was a call for him to “play huge” over the remaining games in the season. Siemian did just that, with a brilliant second-half performance against the Chiefs.

Mostly known for checking down the ball, Siemian showed more boldness as a passer and finished the game with a career-high 368 yards passing.

Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders came through in a big way for his quarterback. He took some big hits, held onto the ball on chain-moving catches, and gashed the Chiefs for a deep touchdown. Sanders finished the game with seven catches for 162 yards and one touchdown.

Aside from Sanders, receivers Jordan Taylor and Bennie Fowler and tight end A.J. Derby were bright spots on the offensive side. As the team continues through the final five games of the year, it will be interesting to see if these three playmakers can continue to make their mark on offense. Derby’s emergence is an especially good sign for a team (and an offense) that sets things up for the tight end to thrive.

This game stunk for Broncos fans, and now every remaining game is a “must-win” scenario for Denver.

“Iron sharpens iron,” as the Broncos t-shirts say, and their mettle will certainly be tested in the month of December.

Follow @CecilLammey