Chiefs' Dominance Over Broncos Won't Stop on Sunday

Despite the offseason acquisition of quarterback Russell Wilson, the Denver Broncos continue to look like a flailing franchise and the Kansas City Chiefs will continue to take advantage with Patrick Mahomes leading the way.

The Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Denver Broncos on Sunday with an absurd winning streak on the line. The Chiefs have won 13 consecutive games against the Broncos. This is a streak that dates back to 2015 when Alex Smith was the quarterback of the Chiefs and Peyton Manning was the signal-caller in Denver. 

In fact, Denver won a Super Bowl right after the beginning of this current Chiefs winning streak began. After the big Super Bowl win, Manning retired and the Broncos haven’t beaten the Chiefs since.

Since then, the Broncos have been quarterbacked by the likes of Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, Brock Osweiler, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Brandon Allen, Drew Lock, Jeff Driskel, Brett Rypien, Kendall Hinton and Teddy Bridgewater.

That is an unimpressive list of quarterbacks, to say the least. After Sunday, we can add Russell Wilson to the list. He'll be a new name on Denver's quarterback carousel, but he'd need to pull off a massive upset to break the Chiefs' streak.

The Broncos recieved Wilson and a 2022 fourth-round pick while sending quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant, defensive tackle Shelby Harris, a 2022 first-, second-, and fifth-round pick, and a 2023 first- and second-round pick. Denver thought they were getting Super Bowl champion, team leader and head chef Russell Wilson. What they’ve seen to this point is a loser quarterback who may have lost part of the locker room and looks more like the garbage man rather than the cook in the kitchen.

The fall of Russell Wilson has been a bit shocking. He was an MVP-caliber player for years with the Seattle Seahawks, despite never garnering any MVP votes in his career. He won a Super Bowl in Seattle. He was an elusive quarterback in the pocket and had great touch on the deep ball. Midway through the 2021 season, he broke a finger on his throwing hand and he hasn’t looked the same since.

The Seahawks only missed the playoffs twice in his 10 seasons there. He was viewed as one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL before the 2021 season and before the injury to his throwing hand. The Broncos were so confident in Wilson’s ability to bounce back that they gave him a five-year contract worth $245 million. Wilson is locked in with the Broncos through the end of the 2028 season, with a potential out for the team after the 2026 season. (Moving on from Wilson earlier would come with massive salary cap hits.) Still, the lack of production in year one of the deal has to be concerning for Broncos fans knowing he will be in Denver and overpaid for several more years.

The Broncos have only scored three touchdowns since Halloween. They have scored less than 14 points in half of their games this season. Meanwhile, their defense has been respectable and they often keep the team's hopes alive in a majority of these games. It has to be tough on the guys opposite Wilson and Denver's toothless offense.

Patrick Mahomes is 9-0 all-time against the Broncos and has a few career notes throughout the series. His first game as a starter came during his rookie season against the Broncos in Week 17. There was the Monday Night Football fourth-down left-handed pass game in Week 4 of 2018. His kneecap went sideways in a night game at Denver in Week 7 of the 2019 season. Then, the famous “I think I’m a snow game guy” game when he bounced back from his injury in Week 15 in 2019.

Some games have been closer than others, but the result remains the same. The Chiefs have dominated the Broncos and Mahomes has never lost to this division rival. The Chiefs look to extend their streak to 14 games while Mahomes is looking to push his record to 10-0 against the Broncos.

Despite adding a quarterback with considerable star power like Wilson, the Broncos remain lost as a franchise. Denver’s fate doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon. The Chiefs will continue to dominate the series for the foreseeable future, and that showcase will be on full display again on Sunday.