Tough loss to Chiefs shows Broncos' limited margin for error - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Denver Broncos' locker room on Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium was a collection of raw nerves and emotion. The Broncos learned a painful lesson — that their wiggle room is still so limited that doing almost everything right still might not be enough to beat a top team.

After an afternoon when the Broncos felt they controlled the Kansas City Chiefs, the two-time defending Super Bowl champions blocked Broncos' kicker Wil Lutz's 35-yard game-winning field goal attempt on the final play. So instead of Sean Payton getting the signature win of his two-season Broncos tenure, Denver was left with the empty feeling of being painfully close but ultimately unsuccessful in a 16-14 loss.

«Proud of how they fought, thought we outplayed them,» Payton said. «But nonetheless you've got to beat a champion, and we weren't able to do it. Obviously gut-wrenching.»

«Our job as a field goal unit is to put the ball between the uprights, and we didn't do it,» Lutz said.

As the Broncos (5-5) continue the quest to end their current eight-year playoff drought, no team has vexed them like the Chiefs, and no player has tormented them like Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Sunday was the ninth consecutive Broncos loss in the Chiefs' home stadium — 2015 was the last time they won there — and the Chiefs are now 13-1 against Denver when Mahomes starts.

Sunday served as another reminder that the Broncos haven't broken through and how they have little margin for error if they hope to do so. Denver has yet to beat a team that currently has a winning record, and its five losses have come to the five best teams it has played record-wise, including the Baltimore Ravens (7-3) and Chiefs (9-0) the past two weeks.

Sunday's