Broncos–Chiefs rivalry

The Broncos–Chiefs rivalry is a rivalry between the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs in the National Football League's AFC West division. Since the American Football League was established in 1960, the Broncos and the Chiefs have shared the same division, first being the AFL Western Conference, and since the AFL–NFL merger, the AFC West. For years, the rivalry has featured two of the best home-field advantages in the league. CBS ranked this rivalry as the No. 4 NFL rivalry of the 1990s in 2020. The Chiefs and the Broncos are the farthest teams from a division rival, and the Broncos are the farthest from any other team at all.

The Dallas Texans/Chiefs dominated the Broncos in the 1960s, the decade of the AFL, winning 19 of 20 games. The Broncos have responded since then, winning the series from the 1970s to 2000s. The Chiefs snapped this streak in the 2010s when they won 11–9. The Chiefs/Texans lead the series 72–56, but since the Texans moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs, they lead 66–56. Dallas swept all six meetings in the rivalry's first three years.

In the 2010s, Peyton Manning went 7–1 against the Chiefs as a member of the Broncos from 2012–2015. The Chiefs took control of the series after defeating the Broncos in 2015 in the final meeting with Manning at quarterback, starting a 16-game win streak for Kansas City over Denver. Until 2023, the Chiefs had gone 15–0 against the Broncos since Manning retired following the 2015 season, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes won his first 12 career starts against Denver. Combined, the two teams have won the last 14 AFC West Division titles from 2010–2023, and were the only teams to win the AFC West in the 2010s.

1990–1994

 * September 17, 1990: In a game played at Mile High Stadium on Monday Night Football, the Broncos were trailing 23–21 with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter, after Chiefs' quarterback Steve DeBerg launched an 83-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Stephone Paige to give the Chiefs their first lead of the game. Broncos' quarterback John Elway engineered a comeback, which culminated with kicker David Treadwell hitting a 22-yard field goal as time expired. The game is also remembered for Broncos' safety Steve Atwater applying a punishing hit to Chiefs' running back Christian Okoye.
 * October 4, 1992: The Chiefs were victimized by 8 of John Elway's 46 fourth quarter comebacks/game-winning drives, the most he had against one NFL team. Perhaps the most memorable comeback occurred on October 4, 1992, at Mile High Stadium. The Broncos trailed 19–6 late in the fourth quarter, and had not scored a touchdown in the previous 12 quarters. After the 2-minute warning, Elway threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mark Jackson to narrow the gap to 19–13 with 1:55 left. After the Chiefs subsequently went three-and-out, the Broncos returned a punt to the Chiefs' 27-yard line. Three plays later, Elway threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Vance Johnson with 38 seconds left for a thrilling 20–19 comeback win.
 * December 27, 1992: Less than three months after John Elway stunned the Chiefs with the aforementioned comeback win, the Chiefs exacted revenge on the Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium in the regular season finale, with a playoff berth on the line. The Chiefs routed the Broncos 42–20, with the Chiefs' defense scoring three touchdowns off Broncos' turnovers, and denying the Broncos a playoff berth in the process.
 * October 17, 1994: John Elway and Joe Montana, two of the three greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, squared off in one of the greatest games in Monday Night Football history. Montana played the last two years of his 16-year NFL career with the Chiefs (1993–94), after playing the majority of his career with the San Francisco 49ers (1979–1992). The two teams matched each other score for score through the first three quarters, until Chiefs' kicker Lin Elliott nailed a 19-yard field goal to give the Chiefs a 24–21 lead with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. After Broncos' tight end Shannon Sharpe and Chiefs' running back Marcus Allen traded fumbles over the next two possessions, Elway led the Broncos on a 6-play, 39-yard drive, and scored a 4-yard touchdown on a quarterback draw to give the Broncos a 28–24 lead with 1:29 remaining. However, the Chiefs would one-up the Broncos, with Montana connecting on a 5-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Willie Davis with only eight seconds remaining to give the Chiefs a thrilling 31–28 win. It not only gave Chiefs' head coach Marty Schottenheimer his first victory in Denver in eight tries, but the Chiefs also snapped an 11-game losing streak at Mile High Stadium.
 * December 4, 1994: In a game at Arrowhead Stadium, Broncos' defensive end Shane Dronett blocked a potential game-winning 37-yard field goal by Chiefs' placekicker Lin Elliott at the end of regulation, sending the game to overtime. Broncos' quarterback Hugh Millen, substituting for an injured John Elway, committed a fumble in Broncos' territory after being sacked by Chiefs' defensive end Darren Mickell; however, the Chiefs immediately returned the favor when running back Marcus Allen lost a fumble that was recovered by safety Dennis Smith at the Broncos' 27-yard line. Placekicker Jason Elam later kicked a 34-yard field goal with 2:48 remaining in overtime, for a Broncos' 20–17 victory.

1997–present

 * November 16, 1997: The Broncos were trailing the Chiefs 21–19 at Arrowhead Stadium, and were backed up at their own 27-yard line with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Quarterback John Elway led the Broncos down the field, with Jason Elam kicking a 34-yard field goal with only a minute left to give the Broncos a 22–21 lead. However, Chiefs' quarterback Rich Gannon drove the Chiefs to the Broncos' 37-yard line, and kicker Pete Stoyanovich hit a 54-yard field goal as time expired to give the Chiefs a 24–22 win.
 * January 4, 1998: A very hard-fought, yet controversial game. Less than two months after the aforementioned last-second win by the Chiefs, the Broncos returned to Kansas City for the divisional round of the 1997–98 NFL playoffs, and redeemed themselves by upending the No. 1 seed Chiefs 14–10, en route to their first Super Bowl win that season.
 * October 5, 2003: Chiefs' return specialist Dante Hall returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, after it seemed that the Broncos' special teams had him corralled for a loss deep in Chiefs' territory. This gave the Chiefs a 24–23 win over the Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium.
 * November 14, 2010: The Broncos stormed out to a 35–0 lead against the visiting Chiefs before the second half, leading to a 49–29 victory. Chiefs' head coach Todd Haley was distraught after the game and snubbed a postgame handshake with Broncos' head coach Josh McDaniels, thinking that the Broncos were running up the score on the Chiefs.
 * September 17, 2015: The Broncos trailed 24–17 at Arrowhead Stadium with 2:27 left, when quarterback Peyton Manning engineered a 10-play, 80-yard drive, culminating in a game-tying 19-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders with 36 seconds left. The game appeared to be headed to overtime, until Broncos' linebacker Brandon Marshall forced Chiefs' running back Jamaal Charles to fumble on the next play from scrimmage. Cornerback Bradley Roby then returned the fumble 21 yards for a touchdown to give the Broncos a stunning 31–24 comeback win.
 * November 15, 2015: Two months after the aforementioned Broncos' comeback win, the Chiefs exacted revenge in a dominating 29–13 win at Sports Authority Field at Mile High and ended a seven-game losing steak to the Broncos. Despite the anticipation of Peyton Manning becoming the NFL's all-time leader in regular season passing yardage, needing only three yards to do so, the Chiefs' defense held Manning to just 35 yards passing and intercepted him four times, giving him the only 0.0 passer rating of his career before being benched in the third quarter in favor of backup quarterback Brock Osweiler. Shortly after the game, it was revealed that Manning had been dealing with plantar fasciitis, which kept him out until Week 17. The game would prove to be the final regular season start of Manning's career as would be the backup for the Broncos once he came back from injury. Despite this loss and Manning's injury, however, the Broncos would eventually go onto win Super Bowl 50, but not have made the playoffs since then as Manning retired following the season.
 * November 27, 2016: The Chiefs were trailing 24–16 with three minutes left in regulation, when quarterback Alex Smith engineered a 13-play, 75-yard drive, culminating in a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tyreek Hill, coupled with a game-tying two-point conversion with only 12 seconds remaining, sending the game to overtime. Hill previously returned a free kick 86 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and also scored on a 3-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. After each team exchanged field goals in overtime — a 44-yarder by Broncos' placekicker Brandon McManus followed by a 37-yarder by Chiefs' placekicker Cairo Santos, the Broncos were trying to win the game with a highly criticized 62-yard field goal attempt by McManus, but the kick was both short and wide-left, giving the Chiefs possession at the Broncos' 48-yard line with 1:08 remaining. Four plays later, and with five seconds remaining, Santos kicked the game-winning 34-yard field goal for the Chiefs, which initially caromed off the left upright.
 * October 1, 2018: On Monday Night Football in Denver, the Chiefs trailed 23–13 in the fourth quarter before Patrick Mahomes found Travis Kelce for a 2-yard score. The defense then held the Broncos to a three-and-out, giving the ball back to Mahomes, who led the team down the field, even avoiding a sack by Von Miller to throw the ball left-handed to Tyreek Hill for a first down. Kareem Hunt then scored the game-winning touchdown on a 4-yard rush with 1:39 remaining, giving Kansas City its fourth consecutive victory at Broncos Stadium at Mile High.
 * January 8, 2022: In the 2021 regular season finale in Denver, the Broncos were holding a 21–20 lead midway through the fourth quarter, hoping to end a 12-game losing streak to the Chiefs. The Broncos were attempting to add to their lead, and marched deep into Chiefs' territory, when Chiefs' linebacker Melvin Ingram penetrated into the Broncos' backfield untouched, and forced a fumble off of Gordon. Linebacker Nick Bolton scooped up the football, and returned the fumble 86 yards for a game-changing touchdown and a 28–24 Chiefs' win.
 * October 29, 2023: After losing 19–8 two weeks prior (which was their 16th straight loss against Kansas City), the Broncos beat the Chiefs 24–9 at Mile High, getting their first win against the Chiefs since Week 2 of the 2015 season.