Broncos Fall to Chiefs 29-19, Third Straight Loss Puts Them at 3-4

The Broncos lost 29-19 in Arrowhead Stadium to the Chiefs on Monday night. The Broncos have now lost three straight games and sit at 3-4. What once looked like a promising season at 3-1 has now turned into a possibly disastrous year as they are looking down the barrel at 3-6 after the next two weeks against Philly and New England. The Broncos fell behind 14-0 early, rallied to make it a one score game at 20-13 late in the third quarter, but ultimately couldn't complete the comeback as the Chiefs pulled away and won 29-19. The Broncos made mistakes like they always seem to do the last three weeks. Three Trevor Siemian interceptions, a Jamaal Charles fumble,a fumble on a punt return, and numerous dropped passes just killed the Broncos in this game, and once again put them in position to lose. Here are my "Five Points" from the game....

1) Trevor Siemian was awful once again. He has poorly since the second half of Week 3 against the Bills. He missed an open A.J. Derby on the first third down of the game, and that set the tone. His interceptions were awful throws. The one to Marcus Peters in the first quarter down 14-0 looked like he was throwing to Peters instead of Demaryius Thomas. He took sacks when he couldn't, he looked skittish, and he looked like he was lost out there. Siemian deserved to be benched in the game. He hasn't played well enough for this team, and when he got hot later in the game, it was too little too late.

2) The Broncos defense played well once again. They had trouble stopping Travis Kelce, but otherwise they shut down Kareem Hunt, and they did a nice job on Alex Smith and Tyreek Hill. They play hard every week and they kept this game somewhat close, but they were put in bad situations all night long; however, at 20-13 in the early fourth quarter, they have to stop the Chiefs and get off the field on that drive. Instead, they allowed KC to go down the field and get a field goal to make it a two score game.

3) The Broncos turn the ball over and make mistakes like a JV football team. It's unreal. Three interceptions by Siemian were awful, but Jamaal Charles fumbled on the second series of the game when they were driving and Marcus Peters returned it for a touchdown to make it 7-0. Isaiah McKenzie has been shaky as a punt returner and he fumbled a punt once again. Bennie Fowler and Virgil Green each had key drops in the second half-Fowler dropped a sure touchdown. It is almost comical at this point. There turnover margin is second worst to the Browns in the NFL. It is just hard to watch and Monday night was a prime example of that.

4) I'm not going to kill Vance Joseph yet, but I felt like he didn't have the pulse of his team by not benching Trevor Siemian in the second half. You can't play any worse than Siemian did in the first half, and the fact that VJ kept him in there made me wonder for the first time if he can handle the moment as a head coach and decisions like this are something that needs to be looked at in the future.

5) This game was 14-0 and Siemian threw a pick to Peters, and the Chiefs were about to go up 21-0 or 17-0 when they had a first and goal inside the Broncos 10. KC called a halfback option pass to Tyreek Hill and he got intercepted it the endzone by Darian Stewart. That was the only reason why this game wasn't a huge blowout for the Chiefs. A poor playcall by Andy Reid prevented it from happening. The Broncos now find themselves at 3-4 and they head to Philly to take on the 7-1 Eagles. They have to bench Siemian and turn it over to Brock Osweiler while Paxton Lynch recovers from his shoulder injury. As soon as Lynch is healthy, then he should get a turn. I'm not expecting a miracle from Osweiler, but it is better than watching Siemian out there. Lastly, all is not totally lost for the Broncos. They are 3-4, but if they can somehow manage a split the next two games, which will not be easy, they can be 4-5 with Cincy coming to Denver on November 19th. It would help if they could cut down the turnovers. If they do that, then they will have a chance.