Chiefs take AFC's top seed to the wire, fall 20-13 to Broncos on Christmas
In what could be Kelce's last game at Arrowhead, third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun delivered a poised first NFL start as Kansas City battled Denver into the final seconds.
The Kansas City Chiefs (6-10) took the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the Denver Broncos (13-3), to the brink, but ultimately fell short behind an offense that struggled to stay consistent.
Third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun proved he can manage a game playing with a third-string offensive tackle duo and without wide receivers Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton in the 20-13 loss.
“Proud of Chris (Oladokun) for going out and jumping in at quarterback on a short week and handling what he needed to handle there,” head coach Andy Reid said. “I thought he did a good job at running things and executing when needed.”
Oladokun, a 2022 seventh-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, had waited a long time for a moment he received in the fourth quarter on Christmas. He felt it was years and years in the making and that he was ready for it, despite it stemming from quarterback Patrick Mahomes being lost for the season.
“It’s definitely surreal, just looking back on my whole journey of transferring multiple times in college, and there was times I would just sit in my dorm room wondering if this whole football thing was even for me,” Oladokun said. “To go from that dorm room questioning things to being here for four years on practice squad just waiting on an opportunity, and obviously I hate the way this opportunity has came, but also I know I have to take full advantage of it.”
Down 20-13, Oladokun and tight end Travis Kelce did everything they could to at least tie the game at the end of regulation. R.J. Harvey had just caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Bo Nix to take a touchdown lead, leaving the Chiefs with 1:45 to mount a fourth-quarter comeback.
Oladokun and Kelce drove the Chiefs clear down to the Denver 21 with 25 seconds to go. In what could have been Kelce’s last game in Arrowhead Stadium, he hauled in three catches for 25 yards, attempting to put the team on his back.
Having Kelce on the field, especially in the most critical drive of his career up to this point, was a comfort Oladokun leaned on.
“He’s (Kelce) the greatest tight end of all-time,” Oladokun said. “I’d be a fool to not lean on him a little bit.”
Unfortunately, what ensued was three consecutive incompletions, with a delay-of-game mixed in. On third down, it was a deep pass attempt to Kelce, with the fourth-and-eight attempt sailing over wide receiver Hollywood Brown’s hands in the end zone.
Kelce, just 56 yards behind Jason Witten for the second-most career receiving yards by a tight end, was not ready to say it was his last game in Kansas City. With one game in Las Vegas to go to accomplish that feat, he was not prepared to say it would not be his last, either.
“Honestly, I’ve been just focused on trying to win football games,” Kelce said. “I’ll let that be a decision that I make with my family, friends, the Chiefs organization when the time comes.”
Kelce seemed to take a moment when he went through his patented bow-and-arrow motion, running out of the tunnel.
“You know it’s – you only get a few of those where you just get to stand there and appreciate 60- 70,000 Chiefs fans screaming for you,” Kelce said. “I always embrace that moment, man. It’s fun. Hopefully, I got everybody fired up for it.”
Oladokun went 13-for-22 for just 66 yards, but he did have some bright moments and managed to take a 7-6 lead into halftime. On the heels of an acrobatic pass defense by cornerback Kristian Fulton that ended in the hands of linebacker Nick Bolton, Oladokun threw the first touchdown pass of his NFL career.
Taking over at the Broncos 35, Oladokun used an 11-yard pass to Kelce to march into the red zone. Seven plays later, Oladokun found running back Brashard Smith leaking out of the backfield, who broke multiple tackle attempts for his first career touchdown catch as well.
A pass interference by the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Patrick Surtain II, put the Chiefs in field goal range coming out of the half. The offense stalled out, but Harrison Butker, who went 2-for-2 Thursday night, sank a 53-yarder to take a 10-6 lead.
The Broncos responded with a near 10-minute, 14-play, 72-yard drive that ended with Nix scrambling for a nine-yard touchdown. The scramble gave Denver a 13-10 lead, their first lead since the beginning of the second quarter.
The Chiefs went three-and-out in response, but their defense came up with a stop of their own after defensive tackle Chris Jones sacked Nix on a third-and-four. Jones doubled the amount of any of his teammates’ pressures, totaling seven on the evening.
Brashard Smith made his mark on the game once again when he took Denver’s punt 44 yards, clear to the Denver 45.
“We did some good things there, returns with (Brashard) Smith,” Reid said. “I thought he did a nice job with a couple of nice returns, and that’s something positive that you can take into the future there with him.”
The Chiefs needed just 16 yards to set Butker up for a successful 47-yard field goal to tie the game at 13-13.
The Christmas Day matchup was not the most inspiring for the AFC-leading Broncos, but following Butker’s game-tying field goal, they took over the game.
A 17-yard pass to wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey put them in Chiefs territory. When the clock hit the two-minute warning, the defensive front had a chance at a goal-line stand on a fourth and two at the Chiefs’ nine.
Kansas City never got a chance to make the stop, though, after Jones was called for a neutral zone infraction. The five-yard penalty set Nix and the offense up for the game-sealing touchdown.
It could have been all for nothing, too. Broncos head coach Sean Payton said after the game that they planned to take the delay-of-game penalty to set up a field goal and take a 16-13 lead with less than two minutes left.
“I’m beating myself up,” Jones said after the game. “Yeah, I could have saved us four points. I felt like the guard moved. It was a critical situation; I have to be better.”
It was an admirable performance from a team that had just lost to the 3-12 Tennessee Titans and was facing a now 13-3 Broncos team. Denver had 12 more first downs, went 11-for-18 on third downs, outgained the Chiefs 303 to 139, ran 29 more plays, and had possession nearly 19 minutes longer.
“Number one, you want to win the football game, and I really don’t care who’s in – that’s the primary goal,” Reid said. “ We came up short, but again giving good effort there in doing that.”
And Kansas City was in it until the very end.
Oladokun and the offense struggled to get anything going with any consistency, albeit while taking care of the football. Oladokun threw one touchdown and did not turn the ball over at all.
He did not have much of a ground game going for him, either. Kareem Hunt took seven carries for 38 yards, while Isiah Pacheco took nine for 32.
The three most veteran pass-catchers were his leading receivers, but that is not saying much. Kelce caught five of six targets for 36 yards, JuJu Smith-Schuster caught all three of his targets for 16 yards, and Hollywood Brown caught one pass for seven yards.
Do not let the Broncos’ statistical dominance fool you, though. The defense put together a fairly brilliant game without both of its starting cornerbacks, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, who have recently been placed on injured reserve.
They are also down starting strong-side linebacker Leo Cenal, and they were able to accomplish something they were not able to do in his absence last week. The front was able to limit the Broncos’ top two running backs to 21 carries for 83 yards.
The only issue they had in the run game was Nix’s legs, who scrambled nine times for 42 yards and a touchdown. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit was able to limit his arm, however. Nix went 26-for-38 for 182 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Fulton, Nohl Williams, and company held veteran wide receiver Courtland Sutton to four catches for 40 yards on a lofty 10 targets. Troy Franklin caught four passes for 17 yards after tallying over 80 yards in Week 11.
Bolton led the way with 12 tackles and the interception, but cornerback Nohl Williams had the highest PFF grade on the team. He limited receivers to four catches for 21 yards and swarmed his way to eight tackles, including three for a loss.
“When I say the young guys follow the veteran guys, he’s (Nick Bolton) one of those veteran guys,” Reid said. “All these guys, they follow these leaders, as coaches, we give them the direction, and those guys lead by example. That’s an important thing to have on your team.”
Fulton, who has had an up-and-down season that was marred by injuries to this point, was targeted five times, allowing just one to be caught.
“I thought he (Kristian Fulton) played like he was healthy,” Reid said. “(General Manager) Brett (Veach) brought him in here knowing that he was a good football player, but he hadn’t been able to stay healthy. He was able to get himself in a position now where he’s feeling better football-wise and get himself out there and play. But that’s what he is capable of doing.”
Kansas City could not come up with the win, but it was a much better effort than the one they posted in Week 16 against a bad Titans team. They now will have 10 days rest to prepare for the final game of the season against the Las Vegas Raiders (2-13).
As for Kelce, and if it will be his last in a Chiefs uniform, a longtime teammate and star player made his plea for a meaningless Week 18 game to not be the way he goes out.
“I hope not, man, dang,” Jones said. “We just have been through so much together, and Travis has been a pivotal point in this offense for so long, and he’s been like a brother, man. To watch Trav go, I hope this isn’t his last year. I hope he gives it one more year. Just one more.”