Linebacker Nick Bolton 86-yard fumble return After Melvin Ingram III dived into Denver’s backfield intact and stripped Melvin Gordon, he propelled the Kansas City Chiefs to a 28-24 victory over the Denver Broncos on Saturday.
With their thirteenth straight victory over the Broncos, the Chiefs (12-5) kept alive their hopes of landing the number one spot in the AFC playoffs.
They need Houston to beat Tennessee on Sunday to get pole position; otherwise, they are the second seeded and will host a wild-card game next weekend in their quest to reach a third consecutive Super Bowl.
The Broncos (7-10) were leading 21-20 and driving for another touchdown when Ingram edged tight end Noah Fant and blew up the play just as Drew Lock handed the ball to Gordon.
Bolton picked up the fumble and roared 86 yards to give the Chiefs their biggest lead, and Patrick Mahomes’ goalie on a two-point conversion made it 28-21.
Lock and the Broncos quickly got back into scoring position, but coach Vic Fangio, who fell to 19-30 as Denver’s head coach, decided on a field goal on third-and-9 from 13 as the crowd relentlessly booed the decision. .
McManus nailed the 31-yard ball, but the Broncos were still down by four and would need a touchdown if they could stop Mahomes.
They weren’t.
At third and 8 of Denver’s 17, Mahomes found Travis Kelce for an 11-yard gain on the two-minute warning, and the Broncos had burned all of their timeouts.
The Chiefs lined up in a winning formation as the clock ticked and the crowd of 61,441 – there were nearly 15,000 empty seats – raced toward the exits, a fifth straight losing season on the books and their playoff drought now spanning six years.
Jerick McKinnon broke three tackles on his way to a 14-yard touchdown reception that put Kansas City ahead 17-14 on the first drive of the third quarter.
Lock responded with a 31-yard dart to Tim Patrick on third and 13, that pass surpassed Lock’s total yards in the first half, and then Gordon crossed the line for a time. 47-yard touchdown That gave Denver a 21-17 lead that the Broncos would take in the fourth quarter.
Harrison Butker’s 51-yard field goal led Kansas City to 21-20 early in the fourth quarter and capped a 10-play drive that covered just 25 yards.
Lock completed just 4 of 10 passes for 27 yards in the first half, but the Broncos took a 14-10 lead at halftime thanks to Lock’s 5 and 23-yard scores.
Kelce’s three-yard catch put KC ahead 7-0, but Zayne Anderson’s harsh punishment on kicker Sam Martin saved the Broncos from a second straight triple and Lock took his second chance to tie it with his five-yard scramble that tied it at 7.
That series began at Denver 33 after Butker slipped on kickoff. He also slipped twice in pregame warm-ups and changed his cleats before the game.
Denver got their running game to take a 14-7 lead when Lock kept it himself and went down the middle from 23 meters. That made him the Broncos’ first quarterback with two touchdown runs in a game since Tim Tebow in 2011.
The Broncos, who missed three of their best four cornerbacks, dropped two interceptions, one by Michael Ojemudia in Kansas City’s first drive and another at the goal line by Kyle Fuller.
Right after Fuller’s miss, Butker’s 34-yard field goal led Kansas City to 14-10.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism