While still stewing in disappointment one day later, the Denver Broncos are looking at the blocked field-goal attempt that would have finished off a victory over the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs as a chance to make the team better.
Broncos kicker Wil Lutz lined up for a 35-yard field-goal attempt Sunday as time was set to expire, but the attempt was blocked by the Chiefs’ Leo Chenal, who charged right through the middle of the Denver line.
The undefeated Chiefs escaped with a 16-14 victory, leaving the Broncos at a crossroad with a 5-5 record.
“They exploited an area that we obviously felt was fixed and stronger, but not fixed enough,” Payton said Monday. “I read all the comments afterwards, and I think that it’s tough to lose a game that way. This isn’t on the player. This is on all of us. This is on us as coaches.
“We’ve got to continue to look at, ‘Hey, are we big enough stature-wise there for that?’ And understanding how the rush was coming. It’s disappointing.”
Payton clarified the area that was exploited.
“They felt like they had an indication relative to how (center Alex Forsyth’s) weight was balanced,” Payton said. “All of that is game planning, scouting and then it’s us coaching and looking at the self-scout. Again, it’s nothing new.”
The Broncos are merely third in the AFC West, but with the conference’s muddled postseason picture, Denver is currently in possession of the seventh and final playoff spot. The Broncos are listed with a 51 percent playoff probability.
And while Sunday ended in a heartbreaking defeat, the Broncos can also look at it as a near miss, on the road against an undefeated team that also won the last two Super Bowls.
“The sky is not falling,” Payton said. “There’s a lot ahead obviously.”
Of the seven games still on the schedule, the Broncos face four teams currently out of the AFC’s playoff picture. But they have still have to face the 6-4 Atlanta Falcons on Sunday and finish the regular season with a rematch against the Chiefs. The advantage for Denver is that both of those games are at home.
“I like the leadership on this team. It’s an entirely different team than a year ago,” Payton said. “It’s (a) tough (team) mentally and physically. … Listen, when you talk to the players about that (loss), you tell them, âHey, that’s going to happen periodically in your career.’
“You hope that you have a few of those games that maybe you thought that you didn’t deserve to win that you did win. You have to bounce back either way.”
That optimism is further fueled by the play of rookie quarterback Bo Nix, who has completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 1,968 yards and 10 touchdowns with six interceptions. He also has 290 yards rushing with four more TDs.
“Offensively, we played that team better than we have in the past with what they do,” Payton said. “We had some scoring opportunities certainly at the end of the (first) half that we didn’t take a good enough advantage of.”