The Front Range froze over.
The Underworld? Who can say.
This much is certain: A pre-Halloween winter storm that blanketed the region checks in no better than second on the 2023 list of October surprises around here.
The Streak is over.
The Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
For the first time in 17 tries.
For the first time in 2,964 days.
For the first time since this franchise last won a Super Bowl.
For the first time since that franchise drafted Patrick Lavon Mahomes II.
Stranger Things? There hadn’t been many scarier than this divisional mismatch in a league that prides itself on parity. But the pendulum finally swung West in a 24-9 Broncos win Sunday thanks to a dominating defensive performance, five Kansas City turnovers and a trio of Russell Wilson touchdown passes.
“It meant the world,” outside linebacker Baron Browning said of knocking off the Chiefs at Empower Field, where snow filled in the seats for 12,281 no shows but the stadium pulsed with energy down the stretch. “They definitely brought that extra energy and they were definitely that 12th man on the field for us today. So shoutout to Broncos Country.”
Fans always felt the brunt of this stretch most acutely. Almost everything else about the Broncos has changed. It started under coach Gary Kubiak and then progressed through Vance Joseph, Vic Fangio, Nathaniel Hackett and then Sean Payton. The front office changed. Ownership changed. Quarterbacks changed — many times over.
Safety Justin Simmons? He saw almost all of it — 15 of the 16 losses since getting drafted in 2016. Then Sunday he buried it by logging two takeaways, including his fifth career interception of Mahomes.
“I get from the outside looking in, you look at it as a fan base and things like that, that there is this streak and everybody wants to talk about it,” Simmons said. “But literally, each and every year, it is a new team. … I know some guys have been here, myself obviously the longest, and have faced them multiple times, but it is a new team. It is a new year, and that is kind of the mindset you have to have going into it. Really happy we won.
“That is a heck of a team; we know that watching them. It just feels good to win.”
Despite the downplaying, it’s perhaps fitting that two of the maligned figures in this story, Simmons and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, played major roles in putting the streak to bed.
This defense didn’t lose 16 straight, but the 2023 rendition did get off to a historically poor start. They got shredded for 160 points in the first four weeks, 70 in Miami alone, and gave up nearly impossibly productive outings to quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa of the Dolphins and Chicago’s Justin Fields before getting ripped for 234 rushing yards against the New York Jets in Week 5.
Since then, the turnaround has been dramatic.
“‘VJ’ has been nothing but outstanding,” Simmons said. “I can speak for the defensive room when I say this: We’ll go to war for VJ week-in and week-out. He never flinched, he never wavered. He knows how good we can be and how well we can execute. Today I think kind of showed that.”
Even more improbable: Half of that work has come against the vaunted Chiefs and their all-timer of a quarterback, who on Sunday lost an AFC West road game for the first time.
Simmons and nickel Ja’Quan McMillian picked him off. Baron Browning sacked him twice, stripping the ball out once for a Jonathon Cooper recovery. Mahomes had the second-worst single-game quarterback rating of his illustrious career.
Over two games, the Chiefs entered Denver’s red zone eight times and came away with just one touchdown. On Sunday, they didn’t find the end zone at all. Outside of three Mahomes scrambles for 20 yards, Kansas City rushed 13 times for 42 yards compared to Denver’s 40 for 153.
“I think we’re learning a little bit more about each other,” coach Sean Payton said. “I think a team can build an identity and I think we’re kind of in that journey right now. I was pleased for them today, though.
“They had a good week of work, and that doesn’t always equate to a win in our league, but it gives you a chance.”
Defensive lineman Zach Allen told The Post he thinks that identity can be “a bully ball, big, physical team.” Really, he’s thought that all along. He’s said as much since he arrived here this spring as a free agent. He maintained it through the Broncos’ slow start.
So, in his mind, on an afternoon with a years-long weight lifted for some, nothing really changed.
“A lot of people like to knee-jerk react,” he said. “It’s not just football fans, it’s every kind of sport. I’m a fan of Premier League soccer and the minute a team loses, everybody needs to get fired, transfer everyone, all of that. It’s the nature of the business, especially with social media and stuff like that. People always want to get on there and vent their frustrations. But for us, man, we’re just focused on this room.
“This is the best team I’ve seen at staying like that.”
The Broncos now head into the bye week at 3-5. Their playoff odds have skyrocketed all the way to 6%. But Simmons says they’ve got reason to believe. When you end a 16-game skid, you can’t help but keep the faith.
“It feels so much better when you feel like you’re believing in something and then to see the fruits of that,” he said. “Obviously, today, with that win and believing in our team and believing that we could do it — especially at home, our crowd was amazing — man, it just felt so good to win. We’ve got full confidence, as I was just saying. Full confidence in the guys we have on our team right now.
“Hit this bye week, recover, a little bit of self-(scout), self-reflection and get ready to hit this second half of the season push.”
Patrick Mahomes’ no-good, very bad day
Sunday’s 24-9 loss in Denver was the second-worst performance in Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ career, as measured by passer rating. The two-time Super Bowl MVP has a 105.3 regular-season rating across his six-plus years in the NFL, but the Broncos are responsible for his two worst outings.
| Opponent | Date | C-Att.-Int. | Yards | Rating | Result |
| Denver | Dec. 5, 2021 | 15-29-1 | 184 | 57.3 | Chiefs 22, Broncos 9 |
| Comment: The last time Mahomes was held without a TD throw — until this week. | |||||
| at Denver | Oct. 29, 2023 | 24-38-2 | 241 | 59.2 | Broncos 24, Chiefs 9 |
| Comment: The Chiefs’ 16-game reign of terror finally ends at Mile High. | |||||
| at Tennessee | Oct. 24, 2021 | 20-35-1 | 206 | 62.3 | Titans 27, Chiefs 3 |
| Comment: A demoralizing loss had pundits wondering aloud if Mahomes lost it. | |||||
| Jacksonville | Oct. 7, 2018 | 22-38-2 | 313 | 62.7 | Chiefs 30, Jaguars 14 |
| Comment: Bad night for Mahomes and a much worse night for the Jags | |||||
| NY Jets | Oct. 1, 2023 | 18-30-2 | 203 | 63.6 | Chiefs 23, Jets 20 |
| Comment: A rough start to this month to go with the rough end. | |||||
Source: Pro-Football-reference.com.
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