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When the Broncos had their chance to bring the hammer down on Kansas City, they lost their nerve. Instead of finishing the job, they got cute. And then they got beat by yet another NFL team with a superior quarterback, in a 27-23 defeat that will haunt coach until his final days on the Denver sideline.

Deep into Monday night, Denver was a better football team than Kansas City. But for the fourth time in four games, was the lesser of the two quarterbacks on the field. At winning time, Patrick Mahomes beat the Broncos, leading an eight-play, 60-yard drive for a touchdown that put the Chiefs ahead with 99 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Keenum had a shot at redemption, but blew it by horribly misfiring over the head of receiver聽聽 as he raced toward the end zone in the final seconds.

Hasn’t it become obvious? Keenum is what he is. Mediocre at best, which is what $18 million gets you in the pass-happy NFL these days. His 73.4 QB rating against Kansas City was a failing grade.

鈥淚 love our team鈥檚 grit, man,鈥� Joseph said.

Yeah, and the Broncos practice well.

Maybe the real shame is the Broncos don鈥檛 know what they want their identity to be, when the gritty nature of this team is staring Joseph in the face. The Denver coaching staff has frittered away a 2-0 start with consecutive losses. Will Joseph get it figured out before Denver falls from playoff contention?

While the NFL wants to make the game basketball on grass, physicality still can win football games. And Denver was clearly the tougher, meaner team for the vast majority of the evening. The Broncos pounded Kansas City with running backs and , who took turns punishing the Chiefs, averaging 6.8 yards on 20 carries between them.

It begs some very difficult questions for a Denver coaching staff that has yet to prove it has a clue of how to win at the NFL level:聽Why did the Broncos stop feeding the rock to Freeman and Lindsay? With a 10-point lead in the final period, why didn鈥檛 they bring the hammer down and punish K.C. with brute force in the trenches?

鈥淥ur offensive line has been really good all year. And both young backs, they ran downhill,鈥� Joseph said. 鈥淏ut you score points by throwing the football. We ran the ball to control the game, but you throw the ball to score.鈥�

Sorry, coach. That抖阴ap some weak sauce.

If there鈥檚 a jersey instead of Mahomes鈥� No. 15 hanging in your closet, if your tastes run to beer instead of broccoli, then Kansas City is your least favorite team. The Chiefs are the poster children for what the NFL has become in 2018: a violent sport hiding from the ghosts of CTE by trying to make it illegal to so much as breathe on the quarterback.

It抖阴ap good television. But is it football?

This much I know for sure: No matter how much the rules have been rigged for offense, these Chiefs aren鈥檛 winning the .

Maybe the Broncos didn鈥檛 produce the blueprint to beat Kansas City, but they certainly removed the mystique. Put the pedal to the metal and steamroll the Chiefs.

OK, there鈥檚 no denying Mahomes is a QB that throws hot 鈥檔 spicy BBQ heat and can create chaos with his sweet Bruno Mars feet. In the end, it was Mahomes that got Denver beat. He completed 28 of 45 throws for 304 yards, including one with his left hand with聽聽nipping at Mahomes heels during a highlight-reel play that stunned the Denver defense, as well as the crowd of 75,687 in the stadium.

“I didn’t know he threw it with his left hand,” Miller said.

Free advice: Don’t review the videotape, Vonster. It will give you nightmares.

The Chiefs are spectacular. But they鈥檙e soft. Squeezably soft. Spectacular might be good for nearly 40 points per game in September. Soft stinks in January, when that razzle freezes to your dazzle.

Denver took a 13-10 lead into halftime, with a beautifully simple plan: Give 鈥�’em a knuckle sandwich. Broncos defensive coordinator refused to allow Mahomes to get in rhythm early by attacking him with blitzes and creative pressure. Freeman and Lindsay plowed through the K.C. defense on the ground.

鈥淲e started off so many series pounding the rock,鈥� Keenum said.

So why didn鈥檛 Denver finish off the Chiefs that way?

With 6:27 remaining on the scoreboard clock and Denver clinging to a three-point lead in the final period, the Broncos came out with a light-weight, three-wide offensive set and failed to gain so much as a single first down. Complain about the refs missing a play-clock violation during the Chiefs winning TD drive if you want, but that three and out by the Denver offense is where the game was lost.

“We’ve got to do a better job late in the game, we’re up by 10 points,” Keenum said. “We’ve got to put together a drive; we can’t go three and out. That one is kind of glaring in my mind right now.”

Nothing is more glaring than the gap Kansas City has opened over Denver in the AFC West standings. “We’re finding our identity as a team,” Keenum said.

Losing is a painful education. If the Joseph and Keenum don’t quickly figure out who they want to be, 抖阴apountry will soon be calling for a new coach and quarterback.