Mike McGlinchey: The Broncos Must Forget the Loss to the Chiefs as Quickly as Possible

The Kansas City Chiefs thoroughly dominated the reigning AFC West champions, the Denver Broncos, 31-10 at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Denver squad was outclassed in every aspect of the game. The offense worked for only one drive the entire game; Bo Nix looked rattled and made several costly mistakes, the offensive line — usually a strength — broke down, especially against Kansas City’s young players. The defense had serious problems, with 28 missed tackles and an inability to stop the opponent’s ground game.

As NFL reports, Mike McGlinchey said Tuesday that the team must accept the result, take the necessary lessons from it and forget the loss as quickly as possible after internal discussions, in order to move on to the next game. He stressed the need to set aside emotions and embarrassment and focus on the practical work ahead of the team.

In Davis Webb’s debut as play-caller, the Broncos were held to just 176 total yards, the lowest mark since Sean Payton became head coach, according to Next Gen Stats; the last time they gained fewer yards was in Week 16 of 2021, when the team, led by Drew Lock, managed 158 yards against the Raiders. Such offensive struggles, combined with the 28 missed tackles that turned into 247 yards for K.C. and eight defenders missing several key tackles, make the upcoming stretch — including the Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks — a difficult one for Denver.

According to the NFL, if the Broncos don’t move past this loss quickly and don’t improve the fundamentals of their game, their season could be at risk; McGlinchey noted that every game is an opportunity to learn and to progress, and that if the team doesn’t take lessons, success will be hard to achieve.