Broncos’ stunning blocked FG turns coming out party vs. Chiefs into gut-punch: “This is the worst loss I’ve ever had in my life”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Zach Allen stared at his shoelaces and searched for words that just wouldn’t come.

The hulking Broncos defensive lineman slowly tied one knot and then the other.

Then, there was only reality to confront.

“This is the worst loss I’ve ever had in my life,” the sixth-year pro told The Denver Post, his voice barely reaching above a whisper in the stunned silence of the Denver locker room.

He sat on a tiny wooden stool, one of which accompanies each locker in the cramped visiting accommodations at Arrowhead Stadium. Faded, worn and emblazoned with a Chiefs logo on the seat, the stools look like they might have come with the place when it opened in 1972.

They’ve carried the weight of a lot of losing opponents through the years, particularly over Patrick Mahomes’ eight-year reign. The Broncos alone had lost here eight straight times entering Sunday.

They had lost big and lost close. Lost when it mattered and lost when it didn’t. Lost because of defense, lost because of offense and lost mostly just because of Mahomes’ greatness.

But never like this. Never like 16-14 on Sunday.

Very few teams, really, have returned to this room after a finish as crushing as this one. This was the win that wasn’t.

A win if Wil Lutz’s 35-yard field goal goes through the uprights.

A win if Alex Forsyth and the left side of the Broncos’ line blocks a half-second longer.

A win if Kansas City linebacker Leo Chenal gives any less than sell-out effort.

A win 99 times out of 100 but not this time.

This time Chenal stormed over Forsyth, blocked Lutz’s kick, stole Kansas City a win, ripped out the Broncos’ hearts and snuffed what looked like a surefire coming-out party for the Sean Payton era in Denver.

“It felt like we outplayed them, but we didn’t finish,” a still-stung Payton said after the game. “We had an opportunity to right at the end. We controlled the ball. We have to be able to finish. That one will take a while. …

“I thought we outplayed them. Nonetheless, you have to beat a champion. We weren’t able to do it. It is gut-wrenching.”

Gut-wrenching because of how the Broncos (5-5) found themselves on victory’s doorstep.

They willed themselves there by standing toe-to-toe with the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, who entered without a loss this season, and delivering.

Denver’s defense rallied to force Mahomes and company into a field goal for the third time in four red zone chances by bowing up from first-and-goal from the 5-yard line. Harrison Butker’s field goal gave the Chiefs their first lead of the day with 5 minutes, 59 seconds remaining.

Rookie quarterback Bo Nix and the Broncos offense faced a task many have tried and failed at.

Score and, nearly as important, don’t give the ball back to Mahomes.

What followed was the kind of drive that can propel a unit and a franchise searching for identity.

Nix, who gets better by the week, hit Courtland Sutton for a third-down conversion with 4:35 to go. Rookie Audric Estime powered to another third-down conversion with 3:13 to go.

Nix hit Sutton again, this time for 13 on third-and-6, with 1:46 to go, forcing Chiefs coach Andy Reid to take his final timeout of the afternoon.

Two Estime carries and a Nix kneel-down and the Broncos had checked every box over 59:59.

“It hurts,” Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “That would have been a good one. We would have done it the right way, with a full, complete game from a team-wide perspective.”

They held the Chiefs offense in check. They won the third-down battle. They didn’t turn the ball over. They watched their rookie quarterback walk into the most hostile environment yet and not only survive but thrive to the tune of 215 passing yards and first-half touchdown passes to Devaughn Vele and Sutton.

After a third-quarter lull — the Broncos punted on three straight drives to open the second half — the offense mounted its best drive of the Payton era, given the circumstances.

“Every team in the world practices your 4-minute offense,” Nix said. “You know they’re going to blitz zero, they’re going to bring everybody. And they know you’re running the ball. I thought as far as that drive taking five or six minutes off the clock was what everybody wants to do. We gave ourselves the chance.

“They just made one extra play. When we thought it was in our hands, it wasn’t.”

There will be plenty of other moments to look back on when the Broncos do their full Monday dissection. A promising drive at the end of the half went begging when Sutton (six catches for 70) lined up offsides on a spike attempt from Nix to kill the clock, then dropped a deep in-breaker. Instead of a 55-yard attempt at worst but potentially a much shorter one, Lutz was left to try from 60 into the wind before halftime.

More than almost any game, though, this one came down to one second. A single snap. A single blocking assignment.

“To do what we did on that last drive and essentially what you thought would end the game,” McGlinchey said, his mind then going to the deciding snap. “You can’t fall asleep on one play. It can change the face of a game. It can change the face of a season.”

The biggest challenge the Broncos have now is to make sure Chenal’s block only does the former rather than the latter.

Broncos players expressed resolve through teary eyes and clenched teeth. Through the swirl and aftershock, they found some semblance of clarity in the sentiment that this will not be the defining moment for their 2024 group.

Saying that, though, and making sure it holds up are different-sized challenges.

“It’s why I think it is so critical in the beginning of the process to bring in the right kind of people that have that grit, fortitude and toughness,” Payton said. “I have said this before, that’s not for when you’re winning, it’s for when something like this takes place.”

The Broncos will wake up Monday morning bruised, battered, bewildered and still sitting in the AFC’s playoff field with seven games to go.

“We’ll be fine,” Allen said before getting up off the stool and heading toward the team bus. “It’s just going to suck for the next 24 hours. Yeah, I mean, obviously a lot of positives. Just got to bounce back and on to Atlanta.”

Another regrettable afternoon at Arrowhead

After a stunning field goal block on the final play of the game, the Broncos have now lost nine straight to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. While Sunday’s loss was easily the closest Denver has come to winning in K.C. since 2015, that was of little consolation postgame. Here’s a look at each of the nine losses.

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