By Arnie Melendrez Stapleton
DENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Chargers felt good about their chances heading into the playoffs in large part because they had played the reigning two-time Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs so tough this season.
Their wipeouts in the wild-card round show they’re not as close to overtaking the Chiefs as they may have thought.
The Broncos (10-8) would have swept Kansas City (15-2) were it not for a blocked field goal as time expired in Week 10 that preserved the Chiefs’ 16-14 escape at Arrowhead, and Denver ended its eight-year playoff drought with a 38-0 shutout of K.C.’s backups in Week 18.
If not for that fluke failure from his field goal protection unit, Sean Payton would be 3-1 against Kansas City since becoming Broncos head coach, and Jim Harbaugh was really close to going 2-0 against Andy Reid this season.
The Chargers (11-7) lost by two and seven points to K.C., which won its ninth consecutive AFC West crown in its quest for an unprecedented three-peat as Super Bowl champs.
The Chargers face-planted 32-12 at Houston on Saturday after taking a 6-0 lead into the second quarter, and the Broncos were blown out 31-7 at Buffalo after grabbing a 7-0 lead just five snaps into the game.
The remaining teams — Baltimore, Buffalo and Houston — in the AFC field all could pose stiff challenges to the Chiefs. But Patrick Mahomes is 15-3 in the playoffs, has won his last seven postseason starts and is 4-0 against the AFC quarterbacks remaining in the playoffs.
Josh Allen is 0-3 against Mahomes in the playoffs and 6-2 against everybody else. Lamar Jackson is 0-1 against Mahomes and 3-3 against others, and Stroud is 2-1 and will face Mahomes for the first time in the postseason Saturday, when Mahomes and several other starters will be coming off a whopping 24 days’ rest.
The Ravens and Bills meet in the other divisional round game while the Chargers and Broncos both look toward next season and ponder the painful lessons learned from their early exits.
Though not nearly as strong as the NFC North, which produced the 15-2 Lions, 14-3 Vikings and 11-6 Packers, all playoff teams, the AFC West sent three teams to the postseason for the first time since 2013.
“One of the things we learned early on is we got to find a way to play these games at home,” coach Sean Payton said.
That would mean upending the Chiefs, who have owned the division ever since Peyton Manning retired in 2016 and have averaged almost 13 wins a season since Mahomes became their starter in 2018.
So, how close are the Broncos to knocking the Chiefs from their pedestal? Several players who were cleaning out their lockers Monday said they felt they were close, although one thought it was a gotcha question.
“I mean, if you look at us, we were in all those games, every single one of them,” left tackle Garett Bolles said of the Broncos’ 3-3 divisional record that included a sweep of Las Vegas and a pair of seven-point losses to the Chargers. “None of them were blowouts. We’re right there. I think that we need to get some more playmakers but everything we have in this locker room, the core value, is here.
“The sky’s the limit for us and I think we’re going to be exactly where we want to be.”
Asked how close he felt the Broncos were to catching the Chiefs, right guard Quinn Meinerz, fresh off his first All-Pro season, was having none of it.
“You’re already assuming the Chiefs,” he retorted.
Well, they have won nine consecutive division titles, second most ever behind the New England Patriots’ 11-year dominance of the AFC East from 2009-19 under Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
“We’re not even on to the next season yet,” Meinerz interjected. “I mean, I can’t predict any of that. We just got done playing in the playoffs. I think that’s kind of a, kind of baiting question to ask, to be honest.”
Are you around the corner, at least?
“This is all speculation and I’m not here to speculate,” Meinerz said. “I’m here to talk about what we just accomplished and not necessarily speculate on the future.”
He’ll leave it to his coach to talk about supplanting Kansas City next season, by which time the Chiefs might just have another Lombardi Trophy glistening in their trophy case.
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