Leo Chenal owns a log cabin in his tiny hometown, Grantsburg, Wis. He added another log to continue the Chiefs’ improbable fire on Sunday, blocking a last-second field-goal attempt to preserve Kansas City’s stunning, 16-14 win over Denver.
The Broncos (5-5) had methodically drained the final six minutes off the fourth-quarter clock, rookie Bo Nix moving Denver inside the Chiefs’ 15-yard line to set up Wil Lutz’s 35-yard attempt. But Chenal launched himself in front of the kick and launched the Chiefs (9-0) farther into NFL history.
Kansas City now owns a 15-game winning streak, including postseason, longest in the league since Green Bay won 19 in a row from 2010-11. The fifth defending Super Bowl champion to open the following season 9-0, joining the 2011 Green Bay Packers (13-0), 1998 Denver Broncos (13-0), 2015 New England Patriots (10-0) and 1990 San Francisco 49ers (10-0), the Chiefs in each of those 15 wins haven’t scored more than 30 points in any of those games.
Kansas City had only three over the game’s first 28 minutes, trailing 14-3 before Patrick Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 1:44 left in the first half. The Chiefs, who trailed 14-10 at intermission, entered Sunday 18-11 (.621) since the beginning of 2019 when trailing at halftime. The rest of the NFL over that period was 296-1,041-3 (.222) prior to Sunday.
Denver’s stubborn defense rose to the challenge, especially in the second half. Showing resilient character after last week’s 41-10 loss at Baltimore, Denver limited Kansas City to a pair of punts and just two field goals after halftime. The Chiefs were just 1-for-4 in the red zone.
But Steve Spagnuolo’s defense was equally impressive. The Chiefs shut out Denver in the second half, limiting Nix to just 55 passing yards to hand Denver its ninth straight loss at Arrowhead Stadium. Mahomes finished 28 of 42 for 266 yards. Kelce had eight receptions for 64 yards and the fourth-down touchdown catch.
Kansas City, which has come from behind in eight of its nine wins, goes on to Buffalo (8-2), which has won five straight after its victory at Indianapolis on Sunday. Denver will host Atlanta (6-4).
For more information on the Chiefs and Broncos, visit the Kansas City and Denver team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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