The Sports Xchange

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No matter how hard they try, the Kansas City Chiefs can’t get over the Rocky Mountain high obstacle that controls the AFC West – the Denver Broncos.

With 147 seconds to play on the clock Thursday evening at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs enjoyed a seven-point lead and a raucous crowd was thirsting for the first Kansas City victory over Denver since the 2011 season. The Broncos have won the last four division titles and they set an NFL record against the Chiefs by winning their 13th consecutive AFC West road game.

Maybe more telling than that remarkable streak is this: since the Chiefs last won a game in the NFL playoffs (January 1994), Denver has won two Super Bowls and played in another.

For years now, with several notable exceptions like 2012, the Chiefs have considered themselves a good team. But they’ve been unable to overcome the Broncos and the 31-24 loss where they blew a 14-0 lead in the first half and then couldn’t seal the deal with less than 2 minutes, 30 seconds to play.

“You talk about what you want to do here and it starts with the division,” said quarterback Alex Smith. “Obviously, with them being on top of us for the past couple years, here we had them early at our place. It felt like we … gave it away.”

Execution in the game’s most important 15 minutes has cost the Chiefs three chances of beating the Broncos. The fourth-quarter fumble by running back Jamaal Charles provided the winning touchdown for Denver. Twice in the previous two seasons, the Chiefs had first-and-goal situations in the fourth quarter against the Broncos with the game’s outcome in doubt and they did not score on either one.

Since head coach Andy Reid took over the team in 2013, the Chiefs are 5-8 in the division, but more importantly they are a bad 3-4 at Arrowhead Stadium against Denver, San Diego and Oakland. There’s no turning things around from pretender to contender until Kansas City finds a way to protect its turf when their neighbors in the AFC West come to visit.

Their next game is a Monday night affair against the Packers in Green Bay on Sept. 28. That gives the Chiefs time to work on a few of the problems that cost them the victory against Denver: pass protection on offense, pass coverage on defense and more precision (and fewer penalties) in the kicking game.

“We have a lot of season left”,” said Reid. “We’ll feel this one. We’ll get over it and get ourselves ready to play Green Bay.”

They won’t see Denver again until Nov. 15. Maybe by then they can figure out a way to beat the Broncos. Until that happens they will be spinning their wheels in the AFC West.

–Running back Jamaal Charles was devastated after the Chiefs lost in the last seconds to Denver, due largely to his second fumble of the game that was returned for the winning touchdown.

“I was just trying to make a play and wasn’t careful with the ball and one of the defenders punched it out,” said Charles of his fumble that was caused by linebacker Brandon Marshall and returned for a score by cornerback Bradley Roby. “I should have just been smarter and put two hands on the ball. I caused us the loss today. I tried to put the team on my back and I ended up losing the game. It’s all on me tonight.”

The giveaway wiped out was a strong night for Charles, with 21 carries for 125 yards, a 6-yard per carry average with a 34-yard touchdown run.

–Quarterback Alex Smith threw two interceptions against Denver in the Thursday night game, something that usually isn’t his style. Last season, Smith threw just six interceptions in 15 games and over the last four seasons, he’s thrown 23 interceptions. Count his performance with two picks against the Broncos out of character and one of many reasons the Chiefs fell to Denver.

“You know, this hurts – for everyone in the locker room,” Smith said. “Everybody was at a loss of words a little bit. We have to find a way to look at this and regroup. We have a long week here.”

REPORT CARD VS. BRONCOS

PASSING OFFENSE: D — Alex Smith and the Chiefs’ passing game was inconsistent and error prone on Thursday evening. Smith threw a pair of interceptions and Denver sacked him four times. The pass protection was lousy, as right tackle Jah Reid and rookie center Mitch Morse struggled all night against the Broncos’ rush led by DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller. Denver cornerbacks Chris Harris and Aqib Talib each had interceptions. Smith completed 64 percent of his passes and averaged 7.6 yards per attempt. But those four sacks and two interceptions stopped the KC offense in its tracks.

RUSHING OFFENSE: D — The Chiefs showed they wanted to run the ball against Denver and they had some success, averaging five yards a carry (144 yards on 29 running plays) and two touchdown runs. Jamaal Charles had 125 yards on 21 carries with a 34-yard scoring run. But he had two fumbles, including one with less than 30 seconds to play that was picked up and returned for the winning score. The turnovers took away the advantages that came from more rushing yards.

PASS DEFENSE: D — K.C.’s pass rush got to Peyton Manning three times, two of those from last year’s NFL leader Justin Houston. They also knocked him around on some other throws and spooked him into an interception with a blitzing linebacker. But when it came time to stop the Denver passing game in the fourth quarter when the Chiefs held a touchdown lead, they could not get it done. Wide receiver Demaryius Thomas caught eight balls for 116 yards and Emmanuel Sanders also had eight catches, two of those for touchdowns. If Manning’s talents are washed up, it wasn’t visible in the game-tying drive in the fourth quarter that set up the victory.

RUSH DEFENSE: B — Just about the only thing the Chiefs got done Thursday night was shutting down the Denver running game. They held C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman to an average of 2.8 yards a carry (61 yards on 22 running plays). On the game’s first offensive play, Anderson cracked off a 14-yard run and it quickly seemed like a long night was ahead for the K.C. defense. But the next 21 running plays produced just 47 yards.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C — This was not a good night for the kicking game with the Chiefs and that was evident by the demeanor during the game of coordinator Dave Toub. After playing a major role in the season-opening victory against Houston, the special teams failed the Chiefs on Thursday. Punt returner De’Anthony Thomas fumbled away the ball and averaged just 3.8 yards on four returns. They lost 30 yards on four plays with penalties. Only the exceptional night from punter Dustin Colquitt saved the teams from an even lower grade; in four punts he averaged 52.5 yards per kick. That was also his net average.

COACHING: D — When Andy Reid had first-and-goal from the Denver 2-yard line in the first quarter, he called three straight passing plays even though he was six-feet away from a touchdown. Those plays went for minus yards, no yards and on third down the Chiefs fumbled the ball away after a catch. With the score tied and less than 30 seconds to play, the Chiefs had the ball. It seemed like the perfect time to take a knee and go to overtime, especially since they were 80 yards away from the end zone and 45 to 50 yards away from a good percentage field goal. Instead, Reid called a running play up the middle and Charles fumbled, Denver recovered, took it to the end zone and won the game.