Denver’s offense stalled in a disappointing blowout loss to Kansas City, prompting Sean Payton to vent his frustrations over a lopsided, pass-heavy strategy under his new coordinator.
The Denver Broncos got off to a brutal start in Week 1 of the 2026 season.
After winning the AFC West, and being the top team in the AFC, and making the conference championship game, Denver fell flat in a 31-10 loss to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Chiefs' prized free-agent acquisition Kenneth Walker III, who is fresh off a Super Bowl MVP award, ran wild with 173 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries to lead the way. Mahomes threw for 184 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception in his first game back from a torn ACL.
The Broncos offense was nowhere to be found whatsoever. Bo Nix threw for 132 yards with a touchdown and a pick, and Jaylen Waddle had just 1 catch for 2 yards in a weird evening for Denver.
The Broncos only touchdown game in the first quarter, and it was via a Nix pass to tight end Evan Engram.
Davis Webb, who was named the offensive coordinator and play-caller after Joe Lombardi was fired, certainly didn't live up to the hype after an offseason of OC and head coach interviews.
Following the loss, Broncos coach Sean Payton was honest as can be about the play-calling, although he didn't say Webb's name at all.
"Look, it was, just as a head coach always, whether you're calling plays or not, regardless of who's calling the plays, when you have a game like that and you're the head coach, it's frustrating. It's disappointing. And I don't know if the feeling's any different if you're calling them or not," Payton said, via Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports.
At halftime, Payton was asked about not calling plays, and his answer was certainly an interesting one.
After the game, Payton also said there were a "lotta throws, not enough runs."
The Broncos only had 12 rushing attempts in the game, with Jk Dobbins registering eight carries for 36 yards.
The Chiefs had a 14-7 lead at halftime, but they made it 21-7 right away in the third quarter as Walker ran for a 60-yard touchdown, so that might've led Webb to call more pass plays than runs.
All offseason, the discussion was about how the new Davis Webb-led offense would look in Denver.
So far, it isn't promising, and it remains to be seen if Sean Payton takes back play-calling duties if things don't get better.
Now, it's just one game, and the Chiefs had plenty of hype with Mahomes back and the game being in Kansas City, so maybe it was just an off night.
The Broncos will next face off against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Denver in Week 2.
