Broncos-Chiefs: The good, the bad and the ugly from Sunday’s loss

The Broncos saw their two-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. They lost in the snow by a score of 23-3 to the Chiefs. There are several reasons why the Broncos lost, but perhaps the biggest reason is the fact they just don’t have the talent on the roster to hang with a Super Bowl-contending team like the Chiefs.

Broncos head coach Vic Fangio heaped praise upon the Chiefs after the game.

“They are really good. Their record the last few years is indicative of that. They lost an overtime game to go to the Super Bowl last year. They are really good. They got a lot of talent on offense and they seem to have rectified their defense here in the last month or two. I know they have done very well against us in our two games,” Fangio said.

The Broncos gained some valuable experience and certainly got a measurement of how far behind the Chiefs they are. Up next, this team returns home for a game against the Lions. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Week 15 loss.

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The Good

Courtland Sutton went over the 1,000-yard mark on the season with his four-catch, 79-yard performance on Sunday. In just his second year, Sutton has taken a great leap forward in his production and skill set. In 14 games so far this year, Sutton has 63 catches for 1,019 yards and six touchdowns. With two games left, Sutton should pad that number another hundred yards at least.

He’s been this productive on an offense that doesn’t fill the air with footballs. This run-first offense means Sutton won’t get as many targets as other No.1 receivers. He does get targeted on 23 percent of his routes run, showing what a big part of the passing game Sutton is.

Lock acknowledged how much attention opponents are giving to Sutton.

“Teams are going to double him, and it is going to come down to us making plays somewhere else on the field. Where they did that, we just took our opportunities when they did to Courtland (Sutton) to try to get him the ball,” Drew Lock said.

Sutton has also been this productive with three different starting quarterbacks. We’re all excited about the future of Lock, but before he started a couple of weeks ago, Sutton was catching passes from backup-caliber Brandon Allen and washed up Joe Flacco. The amount of production he’s had through this quarterback change is remarkable and a feat only duplicated by Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay.

Sutton is a special talent and we have yet to see him play his best football. Think of what he will be when fully developed – and what a steal Sutton was for the Broncos in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft!

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The Bad

A snowstorm hit Kansas City that changed the way the game could be played for the Broncos. While Denver’s offense couldn’t get much of anything going, the Broncos defense suffered against a high-powered Chiefs offense. They are a zone-heavy system on defense, but especially had to be so on Sunday so they wouldn’t get burned in one-on-one coverage – yet they got burned anyway.

Superstar tight end Travis Kelce had the best day of his season against the Broncos on Sunday. In their first matchup (mostly without Patrick Mahomes at quarterback), Kelce had only 44 yards receiving on six catches. This matchup was completely different. Kelce finished Sunday’s game against the Broncos with 11 catches for 142 yards. No combination of coverage could stop the veteran tight end.

Fangio brought up the way the snow impacted the defensive coverage after the game.

“I think their passing game was not affected by it much and the way their passing game is, I did not expect it to be. We just could not make a play in coverage. We played a lot of different coverages, and we had a hard time making a play, both throwing the ball and the pass rush,” Fangio said.

In addition to Kelce, superstar wide receiver Tyreek Hill torched the Broncos for a couple of touchdowns. He only had five catches for 67 yards, but those two scores were back-breaking for the Broncos defense.

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The Ugly

The offensive line did not let Lock find any sort of comfort level on Sunday. He was only sacked two times, but Lock was hit by the Chiefs defense a whopping 10 times. Lock was under pressure on the right side of the offensive line for most of the game.

Ja’Wuan James missed this game after playing 30-some snaps last week against the Texans. Ron Leary missed the game because he’s still dealing with the effects of a concussion. The Chiefs took advantage of their weakness on the right side, while also getting push up the middle and some pressure from the left side at times too.
Dalton Risner pulled no punches talking about it after the game.

“I think Drew was on the ground a little too much. I don’t know what the reason was for that. I’ve got to be better, starting with me. I think our offensive line needs to play better. I think Drew got hit a little bit too much. We didn’t play like we’re capable of. We didn’t play like we did when we went to Houston last week,” Risner said.

We could see James shut down for the final two games of the year and there’s no telling when Leary will be back. Simply put, Lock may be under duress more than the team wants over the final two games. Good thing these contests are at home because on the road against the Chiefs the Broncos offensive line – especially the right side – performed poorly.

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