The unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs (3-0) travel to Colorado on Monday Night to play the Denver Broncos (2-1) at Mile High as they look to start 4-0 and take a two-game lead in the AFC West.
After losing their first game of the season last week against the Baltimore Ravens (27-14) on the road, the Broncos are looking to rebound at home where they have a 2-0 record. In week 1 the defeated the Seattle Seahawks by 27-24 and in week 2 they escaped the Oakland Raiders with a 20-19 victory.
After edging those teams at home, it will be interesting to see if Denver can overcome the vastly superior Kansas City Chiefs to improve to 3-1 and take a share of the division lead.
Led by second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes the Chiefs have one of the most explosive offenses in the league and its most efficient quarterback.
Mahomes has led the Chiefs to victories over the San Diego Chargers (38-28), Pittsburgh Steelers (42-37), and San Francisco 49ers (38-27). In that span, he’s passed for 896 yards with 13 touchdown tosses and zero interceptions and currently leads the league with a 137.4 pass rating.
The Broncos secondary, once one of the strengths of this team, is no longer flying high as it has allowed a 102.2 pass rating to opposing quarterbacks, which is the worst for a Denver defense since 2011.
The Broncos allowed Derek Carr to complete 91 percent of his passes in week 2 and Joe Flacco to throw for 277 yards in week 3. Even though they’re at home and favored by the altitude, the entire Broncos secondary has to step up because that type of performance won’t cut it against the Chiefs.
Mahomes has already set an NFL record for the most touchdowns through the first three weeks of the season, and he would need just four more against the Broncos to set the record for the first month of the season.
Keeping Mahomes in check will be very difficult for the Broncos, not only because of his skills but because of the many weapons he has at his disposal as proven by the fact that his 13 touchdown passes have gone to nine different receivers.
Consequently, the Broncos will have to try to apply constant pressure on Mahomes with a four-man rush if they want to have a chance in this game. This year they’ve had some success as they ranked seventh in the league in sacks through the first three weeks with nine sacks and 25 quarterback pressures so there is hope for them.
But even if the Broncos defense can slow down the Chiefs they need their offense to put up points on the board to win this game and, so far, Denver’s offense led by Case Keenum offense has not been nearly as prolific as the one led by Mahomes.
Keenum failed to reach 200 yards last week against the Ravens and, after throwing three touchdowns in week 1, he didn’t throw a touchdown for the second straight week, while getting picked for the fifth time this season. Most concerning is the fact that after thriving last season for the Vikings in the red zone, this year he has just a 50.0 passer rating inside the 20.
Even though the Broncos own a good rushing game that could help them early in the game, they will fail to keep the pace with the Chiefs’ potent offense as Mahomes will exploit their week secondary. He may not throw the four touchdowns he needs to break the record, but he will lead the Chiefs to enough points to win this game.
Prediction: Chiefs 31 – Broncos 24
