The Denver Broncos defeated the Kansas City Chiefs for the first time since Peyton Manning helmed the Mile High club on Sept. 17, 2015.
The Broncos 24-9 victory on Sunday snapped a 16-game losing streak to their division rival and earned the first win over Patrick Mahomes. Following his most significant win since taking over in Denver, head coach Sean Payton downplayed the victory.
"It's an important game for us. It wasn't streak-driven," he said via the official transcript. "It was important for us to play well before the bye (week). Getting our third win -- we dug ourselves in a hole. Obviously, we're playing a good team…. There were a lot of things to look at that were positive. We're going to play in bigger games than that, but it is a division game, and I'm glad we won."
A Broncos defense that was embarrassed six weeks ago, giving up 70 points in Miami, held Mahomes and the Chiefs to nine points and 275 total yards while forcing four turnovers on D (added another on special teams). The turnovers allowed Payton's offense short fields, which they cashed in. The Broncos generated 240 total yards of offense (87 net passing yards, 153 rushing yards), the fewest total yards for Denver in a win since Week 17, 2019, and the fewest net pass yards for any team in a victory in 2023.
Broncos safety Justin Simmons generated an interception and a fumble recovery on Sunday, continuing his trend of being a thorn in Mahomes' side. Simmons has an interception in each game versus Mahomes this season and five in his career (no other player has more than two INTs against the K.C. signal-caller).
Like Payton, Simmons downplayed the streak-ending victory, noting it was good to get a win that keeps the Broncos in the hunt heading into the bye week.streak
"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. It is a new head coach, a new staff in general. You come into this, like I told you guys heading into this week, we're only 0-1 (against the Chiefs this season). We lost to them on Thursday night two weeks ago, and we're coming into this game expecting to win. It's a new team, it's a new look, and that is kind of how it is. I know some guys have been here, myself obviously the longest, have been here 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."
The Broncos sit at 3-5 heading into the bye, with back-to-back victories and earning three wins in their past five games. The win will keep Denver's hope alive in 2023, and finally, the world can stop talking about the losing streak to Kansas City.
"What streak? What streak are we talking about? It's over now," linebacker said. "It's a one-game winning streak for us, that's what we're talking about."
