Jensen's Judgment: Broncos' Chiefs Debacle Was More Than a 'Slap in the Face'

What in the heck was even that?

Pardon the poor grammar, but the Denver Broncos' season-opening performance against the Kansas City Chiefs was inexplicable. We haven't seen anything like it since Bo Nix's rookie year, when the Broncos were blown out by the Baltimore Ravens in the regular season and by the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs.

It wasn't just that the Chiefs blew out the Broncos 31-10; it was the complexion of how it happened that is raising alarm bells in the Mile High City. In the blink of an eye, the usually physical and situationally savvy Broncos suddenly became slave to Murphy's Law — anything that could go wrong did go wrong at Arrowhead Stadium.

Strengths Take Shape as Weaknesses

In Nix's first game back since his ankle injury in the playoffs, and on the heels of a hype-filled offseason forecasting a big Year-3 jump, he turned in his worst performance as a pro, and that counts his first two career starters, which weren't pretty.

It was Davis Webb's highly anticipated first game as the offensive play-caller — the wunderkind touted as a better option than Sean Payton. But Webb was completely outcoached and outmatched, seemingly in over his head and swimming in the deep waters of big-boy NFL play-calling against one of the best to ever do it: Steve Spagnuolo.

The Broncos' vaunted offensive line returned all five starters for the third straight season, riding the lofty praise of being roundly called the NFL's top unit. The unit played like garbage, especially in pass protection, with Nix running for his life even against three- and four-man rushes.

It was Jaylen Waddle's debut as a Bronco. Fans were on Cloud 9 after an offseason of press clippings and quotes from Broncos players and coaches about how "different" he is and how he would be the catalyst for this offense taking a quantum leap forward. But he was targeted only three times, finishing with one catch for two yards, and dropped an absolutely-gotta-have-it pass on a crucial third down.

Denver's retooled running back room that featured a healthy J.K. Dobbins, a second-year RJ Harvey, and the debut of rookie Jonah Coleman was going to be unleashed on a Chiefs defense that finished 25th last season against the run. But Webb only called six rushes in the first half, 15 by the end of the game, and while Dobbins and Harvey played well when they were given the ball, Coleman didn't get a carry.

Defensively, the Broncos returned their starting lineup from last season, minus one player on the defensive line and rush linebacker Jonathon Cooper, who's on the commissioner's exempt list. The Broncos were an elite defense last season, and in Patrick Mahomes's first game back from his knee injury, Vance Joseph's unit was supposed to lay the smackdown on the Chiefs.

Instead, new Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III ran roughshod all over the Broncos, finishing with 173 rushing yards and two total touchdowns. The Broncos' tackling effort was nonexistent, finishing with 28 missed tackles, which the Chiefs exploited to the tune of 247 yards after contact, according to Next Gen Stats.

Kenneth Walker reached a top speed of 21.21 mph on his 60-yard TD run, the third-fastest speed of his career as a ball carrier, and the longest run by a Chiefs running back since Damien Williams in Week 17, 2019.#DENvsKC | #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/jn1Aq2uKys
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 15, 2026

The Chiefs finished with 392 total yards. If you minus the 247 yards after missed tackles, the Broncos would have held Mahomes and company to just 145 total yards at home — a winning recipe 99 times out of 100.

And last, but certainly not least, the Broncos' chronic penalty problem from last year translated to the first game of 2026, with Denver earning seven penalties for 52 yards, many of which came at inopportune times when they either killed a drive or extended a Chiefs possession.

How could every possible advantage the Broncos have as a team become a colossal weakness in the blink of an eye — on the national stage and in the very first game of the season? Payton and his coaching staff need to answer that question and act fast because the Broncos can ill-afford to start this season 0-2 — not with how tough their next seven weeks of the schedule are.

A 'Slap in the Face?' No, Let it Be a Wake-Up Call

Bo Nix (10) reacts after losing to the Chiefs. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

By Tuesday morning, Payton had watched all the film. He called the Broncos' 21-point butt-whooping at the hands of the Chiefs a "slap in the face," but stopped short of calling it a wake-up call.

“Certainly a slap in the face," Payton said via conference call. "When you come off training camp and your offseason program, it’s one thing to lose in a hard-fought game where you feel like you played well. I don’t feel like we played up to our standard, and certainly that starts with us as coaches, myself. So yes, it’s disappointing."

Disappointing... the understatement of the year. At least for Nix, Monday night's pathetic showing was every bit the wake-up call that it should have been.

“I think we just let ourselves down," Nix said post-game. "We know we have to be better. There are a lot of guys in that locker room that are going to take ownership and be better. It starts with me and it starts with our offense. We’re going to be better. We don’t have a choice but to get better. It was a nasty wake-up call today.”

Managing the Message

Sean Payton and Vance Joseph look on. | Michael Allio / Imago / Icon Sportswire

I get it. Payton is an experienced coach who has seen everything the NFL can throw at a team. He's not trying to hit the panic button after one game, and nor should he, but he cannot escape the magnitude of how bad the Broncos were in the season opener.

The Broncos didn't just lose to the Chiefs; they embarrassed themselves on the national stage to open a season where they were being viewed as the best team in the AFC and a bona fide Super Bowl contender.

Payton and his staff have to reckon with that while not overreacting and knee-jerking the Broncos into a full-blown tailspin.

Ax(es) to Grind

Bo Nix and Trevor Lawrence. — Bo Nix and Trevor Lawrence meet at midfield after the Jaguars beat the Broncos. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Denver's epic failure to launch falls at Payton's feet. And it's on him to get it fixed on a short week, with the Jacksonville Jaguars coming to town on Sunday.

The good news is, the Broncos have two axes to grind this week. One: bouncing back and proving that Week 1's pathetic showing was an anomaly. Two: exacting revenge on the Jaguars for their Week 16 win over the Broncos at Mile High last season, after which head coach Liam Coen did some trash-talking in the press.

If Payton is the coach I think he is and if the Broncos are the team I think they are, Denver will have a nice surprise awaiting Coen and the Jaguars next week in front of the Mile High Faithful.

That's why Payton needs to see this as a wake-up call and not a slap in the face. The Broncos weren't disrespected by anyone but themselves at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Takeaway

If the Broncos had fallen prey to reading their own press clippings and had bought into the offseason hype, at least that bubble was burst at Arrowhead Stadium. Monday night was a cold realization that the Broncos are promised nothing after winning their first division title in a decade.

Considering how tough the Broncos' initial schedule is, perhaps it's not the worst thing to face a gut-check situation to kick off the season and refocus the team. Better that wake-up call come early than too late.

A Payton-coached team should see Week 1 for what it was, bow up to the realities of the situation, and move forward better for it.

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