Chiefs Fall to Broncos 38-3, End 2012 Season at 2-14

Posted Dec 30, 2012

Reid Ferrin Chiefs Insider KCChiefs.com Email @KCChiefs_Reid

Kansas City entered Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos with Mile High hopes of a win but left with a 38-3 defeat.

The Chiefs began their final game of the 2012 season with a three-and-out before the AFC West champions went to work.

Denver started exactly the way a team on a 10-game win streak would, fast. QB Peyton Manning completed four of five passes for 59 yards, which later led to a three-yard TD run by RB Knowshon Moreno. Denver leads early, 7-0.

Kansas City’s second drive of the game included a few first downs, but the drive stalled.

Denver began its second drive in attack-mode, before Chiefs LB Derrick Johnson later stripped the ball from Broncos RB Ronnie Hillman. Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers recovered the fumble and took the pigskin to Denver’s 12-yard line, where three plays later, Kansas City had to call upon K Ryan Succop for a 23-yard FG. 7-3 DEN. That would end the scoring for the day for the Chiefs, while the Broncos heated up throughout the remainder of the half.

With 1:37 remaining in the first half, Peyton Manning went to work and made the most of it. The future Hall of Famer directed an eight-play, 59-yard drive, ending with a 16-yard TD pass to Decker, making the score 21-3.

In the second half, it was more of the same for the Denver Broncos. Peyton Manning threw his third touchdown of the day, a spectacular one-handed grab in the back of the end zone by WR Demaryius Thomas, extending the lead to 28-3.

With the TD pass, Manning became the NFL’s all-time leader in games with at least three-passing TDs (73), passing Brett Favre. Manning also set another franchise record, passing yards in a season (4,659 yards), passing Jay Cutler’s 4,526 yards in 2008.

Denver later added a one-yard TD run by RB Lance Ball and a 42-yard FG by K Matt Prater, making the score 38-3.

A bright spot for the Chiefs, as he has been all season, Jamaal Charles ended the game with 53-rushing yards, giving him 1,509 for the season. Charles is the third player in team history to surpass the 1,500 rushing yards in a season and it is just the fifth time in franchise history that the feat has been accomplished.

Kansas City’s difficult season ended Sunday night, under the lights of Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Chiefs conclude 2012 with a 2-14 record and they now own the number-one pick of the 2013 NFL Draft in April.