Six reasons why KC Chiefs could lose to Broncos in week seven

These last two weeks haven’t been fun for the KC Chiefs or their fans and it might not get any better in week seven, as the Chiefs head to Denver for a match-up with the Broncos on Thursday Night Football.

Call me Negative Nancy all you want, but I don’t have a good feeling about this Thursday night’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos. Sure, it’s easier to say that due to the losing streak that Kansas City is on, but I actually did pick the Chiefs to lose this game prior to the season even having begun.

One of my main reasons for that is that this is a Thursday night game and that isn’t the Chiefs’ strong point. To make matters worse – They have to go on the road on a short week after two rough games. That doesn’t exactly make me feel any better about this team’s chances heading into Denver this week.

Let’s get into the exact reasons why I don’t feel good about Kansas City coming home with a W in week seven.

INJURIES

First and foremost, the Chiefs roster is in absolute shambles right now. They’re going to be without five key players, and possibly a sixth key player, including Eric Fisher, Sammy Watkins, Kendall Fuller, Andrew Wylie, Chris Jones, and potentially Bashaud Breeland as well. If you want to suit up and play for the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, you might have a chance to get into the game due to all of the injuries they have this week.

LACK OF PASS RUSH

The Broncos offense isn’t good (at least not through the air) and their offensive line is even worse, but the Chiefs’ pass rush has been a joke through six games. Garett Bolles is a terrible offensive tackle, so hopefully this is Frank Clark‘s breakout game as a Kansas City Chief, but considering he has just one sack through six games, I’m not going to hold my breath on that one.

If the Chiefs can’t get after Joe Flacco behind his pitiful offensive line, then this pass rush is somehow even worse than I suspected.

RUN DEFENSE IS CRAP

I tried to think of a nicer way to phrase this, but in all honesty, couldn’t. The Chiefs run defense is the third worst unit in the league, surrendering an average of 161.8 rushing yards per game. An average Joe could come in and rush for 100+ yards on this Chiefs run defense. They’re that bad.

Don’t be shocked when Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman combine for 150+ yards and the Broncos as a whole go for over 200 yards on the ground.

RUN GAME ISN’T ANY BETTER

There’s talent in the Chiefs backfield, Andy Reid just isn’t utilizing any of that talent for whatever reason. The last two weeks have seen the Chiefs give up on running the ball and ending the day for well under 70 yards rushing. When you don’t run the ball, teams know the only other option is to pass and they’re going to game plan for that.

SHORT WEEK

I mentioned this earlier, but the short week comes at just about the worst time for the KC Chiefs. They’re coming off two losses and now have to travel to Denver to play on three days rest and in the altitude nonetheless.

BRONCOS ARE DUE AGAINST KC AND HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE

For many, many, many years, the Broncos took care of business against the Chiefs. At the end of the 2015 season, however, the tides turned and since then, it’s been all Kansas City in this rivalry. After that win in 2015 where the Chiefs got Peyton Manning benched, they’ve swept the Broncos in 2016, 2017, and 2018, giving them seven straight victories over their AFC West nemesis.

That being said, I actually think that winning streak over the Broncos works against the Chiefs here. Denver is due for a victory and they have absolutely nothing to lose in this game. If they win, cool, they’re one game behind the Chiefs for the lead in the division. If they lose, hey, they already have four losses and probably aren’t going to the playoffs anyway.

A team with nothing to lose against an opponent they loathe and are due for a victory against is the scariest team to face, especially when you’re down in the dumps as it is.

CONCLUSION

Yes, I understand this piece comes off as a Debbie Downer article, but the Chiefs’ last two performances have given me no reason to feel confident in them heading into a short week where they’re playing a division rival on the road.

Hopefully I’m wrong and all of your (what I expect to be) rude comments below will be well-deserved on my end, but until then, I’m going to stay pessimistic. The Chiefs run defense has turned me into a sad human being and until they show they can stop anyone, I don’t have high hopes for this Chiefs team.