The Denver Broncos improved to 13-3 this season after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-13 on Christmas Day.
Denver got back in the win column after they lost by 14 points to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 16, but there may be some cause for concern.
Given how many Chiefs are injured or on injured reserve and the fact that they have been eliminated from playoff contention, the Broncos shouldn’t have had to comeback and win in the final two minutes of the game. Credit to Kansas City’s defense, because the Broncos offense had been firing on all cylinders as of late.
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix played a decent game, though he was a bit off on some throws. He completed 26 of 38 passes for 182 yards, a touchdown and an interception while rushing for 42 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Nix was sacked just one time for a loss of seven yards.
His lone touchdown pass to rookie RJ Harvey proved to be the winner and it came with 1:45 remaining in the game.
“Bo Nix guided another fourth-quarter, game-winning drive, finishing with a 1-yard TD pass to RJ Harvey with 1:45 to play, so he got the big-picture job done once again,” ESPN’s Jeff Legwold wrote Friday. “But the Broncos didn't have a play of more than nine yards until Nix scrambled for 14 yards with 5:35 left in the second quarter and didn't have a pass play of more than nine yards until the two-minute warning in the first half. Nix, who finished 26-for-38 for 182 yards, also had some accuracy issues crop up again, helping result in a deflected-ball interception in the first half.”
Denver’s offense needs to be more efficient and consistent from this point on if they want to make a deep playoff run.
“The Broncos took care of what they needed to Thursday to stay in the driver's seat for the AFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. But there were good news/bad news vibes from the Denver offense. The good news was that the Broncos had three scoring drives of eight or more minutes. The bad? Only one of those resulted in a touchdown. They will need to close the deal with more authority (and touchdowns) in the postseason because when they don't, they leave themselves open to what happened against the Chiefs -- where they're in a down-to-the-wire scrap despite giving up only 95 yards of total offense prior to Kansas City's final drive.”
The Broncos’ defense is still in great shape and did their job against a weakened Chiefs offense. If Denver struggles to score at a higher rate in the postseason, the team will be leaning heavily on the defense.
Denver closes the season with a Week 18 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, which could end up being a battle for the American Football Conference West division title and No. 1 seed in the AFC if the Chargers win this week.