Hackett proud of fight from “awesome” players, but says Broncos must win
Dec 11, 2022, 5:53 PM
That was the most entertaining Broncos game of the season.
Down 27-0 to the Chiefs, it looked like they’d be embarrassed and booed out of their home stadium, but that didn’t happen. Russell Wilson rallied the offense, the defense had three clutch interceptions and Denver nearly stunned Kansas City with a furious comeback. The Broncos lost 34-28, coming up just one touchdown short.
Wilson threw for three scores, but unfortunately left the game with a concussion after taking a nasty hit when he scrambled for a first-down. Jerry Jeudy had the game of his NFL career, catching three touchdowns, including one from backup QB Brett Rypien after he replaced Wilson.
But the Broncos couldn’t get over the top, as Rypien was hit and threw a late interception and then the KC rushing attack managed to run out the clock. It’s a loss, but Denver fans have to walk away feeling somewhat encouraged.
After the game, head coach Nathaniel Hackett was asked if this one falls in the ‘moral victory’ category for his team.
“The goal is to win. We all know that. But to watch these guys when you’re down 27-0, everybody had a choice on how they wanted to continue that game. I’m so impressed with all those guys. Defense, offense, special teams, they didn’t blink. They stayed together. The defense came through with a big play for an interception. The offense was able to play complimentary football and continually score,” Hackett said.
It was a season high in points for the Broncos. The defense has been good all year, but the offense has been pitiful. Still, down 27-0 to the Chiefs it would have been easy to quit. And the Broncos didn’t do that, something Hackett was proud of.
“It’s great. It is awesome. We’ve got to finish. We had opportunities to continually win that game and I appreciate that. And that is kind of that moral victory, but we want to win the game. We had a chance to, but I’ll tell you, the fight that these guys have is awesome,” Hackett said.
Is the ‘fight’ from Denver enough to save Hackett’s job? For this week, most likely. Even at 3-10, it’d be surprising if he was fired later tonight or on Monday morning after the rally.
But, long term? Probably not. The Broncos have now lost 14 in a row to the Chiefs. Even if what happened on Sunday felt a little better when the final whistle sounded, it was still a defeat.
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