Patrick Mahomes goes out of his way to not provide bulletin-board material

In his weekly press conference, the Chiefs quarterback tried to sound confident about his team's chances on Sunday, without dismissing the Broncos

BY JAMES MERILATT

Nov 12, 2025, 12:46 PM

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The Kansas City Chiefs are in an unfamiliar position this week. The defending AFC champions are heading into the Mile High City to take on the division-leading Broncos with their backs firmly against the wall.

Denver is 8-2, sitting stop the AFC West. Kansas City is 2.5 games back, coming in at a disappointing 5-4.

If the Chiefs were to lose on Sunday, they’d fall to a hard-to-believe .500 mark 10 games into the season. More importantly, they’d be 3.5 games back in the division, plus being on the wrong side of the head-to-head tiebreaker, with less games ahead through the front window than appearing in the rearview mirror.

As a result, Kansas City isn’t taking anything for granted this week. That includes saying all of the right things, making sure they don’t provide the Broncos with any more motivation heading into one of the biggest games Denver has played in nearly a decade.

On Wednesday, it was Patrick Mahomes who was walking the fine line in K.C. The future Hall of Fame quarterback wanted to sound confident at his weekly press conference, but he also went out of his way to praise the Broncos.

Patrick Mahomes on the mindset of taking on the division leading Broncos 🗣️
“We have to go out there and play our best football and I don’t think we’ve done that yet”

Via | @Chiefs #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/2sbINYQWBf

— SleeperChiefs (@SleeperChiefsKC) November 12, 2025

He starts by calling the Broncos “a really good football team.” Fourteen seconds later, he’s upgraded Denver to “great.”

Mahomes also praised the orange-and-blue faithful. The QB called Empower Field a “hostile environment,” a compliment to any fan base.

Does he really believe those comments? Does Mahomes actually think the Broncos are a legit threat in the AFC?

It seems a little hard to believe. After all, this is a quarterback who has played in five of the last six Super Bowls. He’s appeared in seven-straight AFC Championship Games. He’s won the division nine years in a row.

He’s fazed by a Broncos team that has had two winning seasons and one playoff appearance since winning Super Bowl 50 nearly 10 years ago? That seems like a stretch.

But Mahomes was saying all of the right things on Wednesday. He at least respects the Broncos enough to not add any fuel to what will certainly be a smoldering fire on Sunday.