Broncos' resilience shines in win over Chiefs as Denver hits the bye at 9-2 and atop AFC

DENVER — For a team that hasn't tasted much success since Peyton Manning and DeMarcus Ware were still burnishing their Hall of Fame credentials in Denver a decade ago, this version of the Broncos sure keeps showing off a championship-level moxie.

That's exactly what coach Sean Payton predicted would happen back in training camp when he started touting his team as having the ingredients to win the next Super Bowl.

Their 22-19 thriller over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday marked their seventh comeback of the season, their seventh win in a one-score game, their eighth consecutive victory and their NFL-best 11th straight triumph at home.

“We just got a resilient team that just believes we’re going to win,” quarterback Bo Nix said, "and at the end of the game when it’s close, belief goes a long way.”

A year ago, the Broncos were 1-6 in one-score games and the Chiefs were 12-0. This year, Denver is 7-2 in one-score games and the Chiefs are 0-5.

And the AFC West race has been turned on its head, too. The Chiefs' nine-year reign atop the division is in jeopardy as they trail both the Chargers (7-4) and Broncos by multiple games, although their schedule is favorable down the stretch.

“I think it’s a belief or mentality or a grit, a toughness that we’ve just built as a team,” Nix said. “We just kind of have this belief that get it to the end of the game, we are just going to find a way.”

That's what happened again Sunday.

“I feel like it starts with having a defense that you know they are going to stop them,” Nix said. “At some critical moment, they are going to stop them. We are going to have opportunity after opportunity. As an offense, there is going to be a moment at the end of the game where you are going to have the football and you are going to have a chance to go on a drive, get points or win the game.”

What’s working

With 49 sacks through Week 11, Denver is on track to obliterate the franchise record of 63 sacks they collected last season and eclipse the NFL record for most sacks in a season (72 by the Chicago Bears in 1984). Denver's 49 sacks are the most by a team in the first 11 weeks of a season since 1989, when the Minnesota Vikings had 53.

What needs help

Even though they scored on six of their 10 drives against the Chiefs, five of those scores came on chip-shot field goals after the bend-but-don't-break offense stalled. If they can just finish their drives, the Broncos can start putting away teams early and coasting into the fourth quarter instead of sweating out more close ones.

Although Payton is loathe to credit an up-tempo approach, Nix is at his best when the call comes in early enough for him not to have to rush things and can survey the defense at the line of scrimmage, which was a big talking point on Sunday's broadcast.

Stock up

DB Ja'Quan McMillian had a career day with an interception, a pass breakup, six tackles, including two behind the line of scrimmage, two of Denver's three sacks and two other hits on Mahomes. He's the first cornerback in franchise history with two sacks and an interception in a game.

Stock down

Although Riley Moss, the most targeted cornerback in the NFL this season, leads the league in giving up the lowest completion percentage of all players targeted at least 40 times, he has developed a bad pass interference habit on deep balls, some of them costly. He said he's going to wear boxing gloves at practice to break this tendency.

Injuries

The Broncos are hoping to get star CB Pat Surtain II (chest), ILB Alex Singleton (testicular tumor) and TE Nate Adkins (knee) back after the bye. RB J.K. Dobbins (left foot) is recovering from Lisfranc surgery and has a chance to return if the Broncos go deep in the playoffs.

Key stats

__The last time the Broncos won nine of their first 11 games was their Super Bowl-winning 2015 season.

__Nix led the Broncos to his fifth fourth-quarter comeback of the season Sunday. Since last season, Nix has totaled an NFL-high eight fourth-quarter comebacks. That's one shy of Manning's four-year mark in Denver and the most by any player in his first two seasons in league history.

—Wil Lutz's eight game-winning field goals since joining the Broncos in 2023 are the most in the league over that span, three more than runner-up Harrison Butker of the Chiefs.

Next steps

Payton gave the Broncos the week off. They'll return Nov. 24 to begin preparations for their visit to the nation's capital to face the Commanders (3-8).