Denver Broncos 28, Kansas City Chiefs 24: Denver scores 15 unanswered in the fourth

The Kansas City Chiefs carried an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter at Empower Field at Mile High and did not score again. The Denver Broncos put up 15 points in the final 8:55, and Jonah Coleman's 5-yard run with 1:56 left decided it, 28-24.

Kansas City outgained Denver 399 to 294, held the ball longer and did not turn it over. None of that covered for a scoreless final quarter. It is a second straight loss for the Chiefs, who fall to 5-2. Denver moves to 6-2.

How it was won

Wil Lutz opened the scoring with a 39-yard field goal at 9:43 of the first quarter. Patrick Mahomes answered with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Rashee Rice, and Kansas City led 7-3.

Lutz hit from 45 early in the second quarter to make it 7-6. Then came the biggest single play of the day: Mahomes to Emmett Johnson for 73 yards and a 14-6 lead. Bo Nix found Jaylen Waddle from a yard out with 1:15 left in the half, and Harrison Butker's 45-yard field goal at 0:19 sent the Chiefs to the locker room up 17-13.

Mahomes added a 4-yard touchdown to Noah Gray with 1:38 left in the third. At 24-13, the game looked to be in hand.

It was not. Nix hit Nate Adkins for a 2-yard score at 8:55 of the fourth and then threw to Waddle for the two-point conversion, cutting it to 24-21. Denver got the ball back and Coleman ran in from 5 yards out. Lutz's kick made it 28-24 with 1:56 to play.

Mahomes finished 30 of 41 for 321 yards and three touchdowns. Johnson had 128 yards on five catches, plus a 15-yard carry. Travis Kelce added 67 yards on five receptions. Kenneth Walker III carried 21 times for 69 yards.

For Denver, Nix went 20 of 32 for 222 yards and two scores. Coleman was the Broncos' most useful player: 41 rushing yards and the winning touchdown on 11 carries, plus 63 yards on four catches. Courtland Sutton caught four passes for 53 yards.

The third-down numbers make the result harder to explain. Kansas City converted 6 of 14; Denver converted 2 of 11. Neither side turned it over. The Chiefs had 22 first downs to Denver's 21 and held possession for 31:29. The difference was what each team did after the third quarter ended.

Against the number

Denver closed as a 1.5-point favorite and covered by winning by four. The moneylines were close to even, with Kansas City at -105 and Denver at -115, so the Broncos price paid.

The total closed at 41.5 and the teams combined for 52, a clear over. It was not a sure thing late: the score stood at 37 through three quarters, and it took Denver's fourth-quarter touchdowns to clear the number with room to spare.

Odds, results and line history are on the game page.

What's next

The Chiefs return home on Sunday, November 8, to host the New York Jets on CBS. After a 5-0 start, they have lost at Seattle (20-3) and now at Denver, and the offense that scored once in the final five quarters of those two road games needs a better week.

The result also evens the season series. Kansas City won the first meeting 31-10 at home. Denver now sits a half-game ahead at 6-2. The Broncos' next opponent was not included in the material available for this recap.