The Chiefs are beatable

Well, would you look at that, Broncos Country - the Chiefs lost.

And now at 6-4, the once-assumed winner of the AFC West is barely above Oakland, who is barely above the Chargers, who is barely above the Broncos.

So pure logic now suggests that despite having a 3-6 record, technically the Broncos are still in the hunt in the AFC playoff picture (which is crazy but still not untrue).

And there’s also math. Because the Titans took care of the Chiefs yesterday, and because the Broncos beat the Titans in a shutout last month, by the transitive property of equality, the Broncos can/should (will?) beat the Chiefs.

In a “Five things we learned about the loss” post on Arrowhead Pride, John Dixon pointed out a few things that will be a good lesson for the Broncos:

The Chiefs just aren’t quite as good as thought: “It is encouraging that going into Sunday, the Chiefs were 11th in defensive DVOA — which unlike the stats just mentioned, take the quality of their opponents into account. But thus far, none of the improvement has done much to help the Chiefs win.”

Turnovers matter: “Damien Williams fumbled on the Tennessee 47-yard line — and the Titans’ Rashaan Evans picked it up and ran 52 yards for a touchdown. Without the fumble, the Chiefs probably would have gone on to score seven points...But the fumble did happen — and late in the game, the Chiefs blew multiple attempts to make up for Williams’ error. Those mistakes mattered, too — but it all started when Williams lost the ball.”

Mahomes is fine: Back from an injury, “Patrick Mahomes threw for 446 yards (and three touchdowns) in the loss — and even taught us a new play: the jump-pass. ...But we’re not here to criticize Mahomes. He’s not the reason the Chiefs have lost four games.”

So the key for the Broncos the next time around is pounding the Chiefs’ run defense, rattling Mahomes and forcing some turnovers. Easier said than done but not impossible - especially for a Broncos team trending up.

I know we’re getting ahead of ourselves quite a bit here since the Broncos have a formidable VIkings team on the road, a possibly-declining-but-cannot-be-overlooked Bills team then the Chargers and Texans all before meeting the Chiefs again.

But my point is...there is actually still a chance. Maybe just one in a million, but still a chance.

Any given Sunday and all that.

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