Sean Payton vows Broncos will ‘keep grinding’ and rebound after tough loss to Chiefs

Sean Payton vows the Denver Broncos will keep grinding and rebound from Sunday’s heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

The Denver Broncos suffered a heartbreaking 16-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. It’s not a death knell to their post-season aspirations, but a big wrench in the mathematical possibilities with just seven games remaining.

It’s hard to find positives to talk about after losing on a blocked field goal at the end of the game. Quite frankly, I don’t know if there was a worse way to lose this one. Nevertheless, the Broncos don’t have time to sit around and sulk about it. They have to have a short memory, regain their focus, and start preparing to take on the Atlanta Falcons on next weekend. And that’s precisely what Payton vowed to reporters and all of Broncos Country after the game.

“You have to keep grinding. Each game is different. Each game takes on a different persona,” stated Head Coach Sean Payton.

The Broncos’ gridiron persona was a mixed bag this afternoon. In my eyes, it was truly a tale of two halves—especially on the offensive side of the ball. In the first half, the offense played quite well. Bo Nix was dealing, and they were routinely converting on third down and had the Chiefs’ defense on hits heels.

Alas, their second half endeavors didn’t go well at all. They had too many penalties, negative plays, and struggled to get first downs. It wasn’t until the final drive of the game that they started to work together cohesively and find a way to combat the Chiefs’ blitz-happy defense. Too little, too late.

On defense, I thought the Broncos played very well. They were able to hold the Chiefs to three field goals in the redzone and only gave up one touchdown. Limiting a Patrick Mahomes led offense to sixteen points was a huge accomplishment for Vance Joseph’s defense. Unfortunately, missed field goals and self-inflicted wounds on offense squandered their valiant effort.

It was a tough battle, but one I thought the Broncos had the advantage in relative to most phases in the game. Payton felt the same but knows that in order to beat the best in the league, you have to finish and execute when it matters most.

“It felt like we outplayed them, but we didn’t finish. We had an opportunity to right at the end. We have to be able to finish,” remarked Payton.

“I told our team I was proud of how they fought. I thought we outplayed them. None the less, you have to beat a champion. We weren’t able to do it. It is gut wrenching.”

Today’s loss isn’t catastrophic toward the Broncos’ playoff aspirations, but it does give them a minor setback. They are still slated to be the seventh seed in the AFC thanks to both the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals losing. The Broncos will face off against both of them in December. Those are must-win affairs to make the postseason.

Sitting at 5-5, the Broncos have seven games left in their 2024 campaign. The margin for error is slim. They can’t afford to lose three in a row. Good teams find a way to bounce back after adversity. Back-to-back losses against top-tier teams hurt, but Payton believes this year’s Broncos squad has the mental makeup and leadership to get things going back in the right direction.

“I have said this before, it is not for when you are winning, it is for when something like this takes place or there is a tough loss. We are going to have to bounce back from it.”