The Kansas City Chiefs racked up their fifth straight win by seeing off the Denver Broncos 19-8 in Thursday Night Football but quarterback Patrick Mahomes conceded they had a “lot of room to improve” after another uninspiring performance.
The Chiefs were dominant on defense but struggled offensively against a Broncos side they have now beaten in 16 consecutive games.
Kadarius Toney scored the Chiefs’ only touchdown with Harrison Butker’s four field goals proving key.
Mahomes, who went 30-for-40 passing for 306 yards, was unimpressed and knows the Chiefs must improve as the season progresses.
He said: “Luckily for us, our defense is playing great so we can go through these growing pains and try to get better and better.
“The talent is there. You can see it in spurts.
“I thought we did a great job of staying patient, getting the ball down the field, but in this league, three points and seven points is just such a big difference, and so I think if we found a way to execute in the red zone and score those touchdowns, we’d come away feeling great.
“Since we didn’t, we have a lot of room to improve and so that’s just something that we’ve got to continue to work on. It’s just putting a full game together. Let’s put a full game together and see what we can do.”
That’s 5 in a row for Chiefs Kingdom pic.twitter.com/pnLNaVXC7w
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) October 13, 2023
The Chiefs’ scratchy performance ought to have opened the door for the Broncos but a sub-par display from quarterback Russell Wilson, who was sacked four times and managed just 95 passing yards, meant they slipped to 1-5.
Wilson said: “We had a chance, we’ve got to play better, cleaner. I’ve got to play better. That starts with me.”
Coach Sean Payton added: “Offensively we struggled throwing the ball, our third-down numbers were poor.
“We had a game where we certainly played well enough defensively, but offensively…from a third-down perspective, keeping drives going we struggled until late in the game.
“To win in our league, you’ve got to be better throwing the ball. I don’t think the wind was that big of a factor.”
