Russell Wilson calls ugly two-pick, 95-yard passing night ‘unacceptable,’ lauds Broncos defense in loss

The Denver Broncos‘ struggles continued on Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs. They now stand at 1-5 after the 19-8 loss and quarterback Russell Wilson had one of the worst showings of his career. 

The Denver defense — which had recently given up 70 points to the Dolphins — actually played strong, especially considering it was up against the defending Super Bowl champions. The defense kept the Broncos in the game, but the offense was never able to do enough set the Broncos up for a win.

After the defeat, Wilson took the blame. 

“I thought our defense played great tonight. They battled all night,” Wilson said. “They came up with a pick, our defense did, and could have had two. They did a really great job keeping us in the game. Offensively, we had some really good things and then the two turnovers by me were unacceptable. That can’t happen.”

Wilson went 13-of-22 with 95 yards, with one touchdown, two interceptions and was sacked four times. The Broncos went down 13-0 at halftime and were down 16-0 late in the fourth. 

Denver head coach Sean Payton has never been shut out in his career and just narrowly escaped it happening Thursday night, as the offense finally found the end zone late. It was a six play, 61-yard drive, as Wilson found Courtland Sutton for the touchdown from 11 yards out. Javonte Williams got the two-point conversion with 6:07 remaining. 

The Chiefs had 22 first downs, 293 passing yards and 389 total yards compared to the Broncos’ 14 first downs and 197 total yards. Their leading pass catcher, Sutton, had just four receptions for 46 yards and the second-highest performing receiver was Samaje Perine who had two receptions for just 16 yards. 

The Broncos’ lone win this season was a 31-28 victory over the struggling Chicago Bears in Week 4, but they’ve been in several close ones. They lost to the Las Vegas Raiders by one point in their first game, by two to the Washington Commanders in Week 2 and were historically blown out by the Miami Dolphins, losing 70-20 in Week 3. Last week, they lost 31-21 to the New York Jets.

The Broncos are off to a worse start than they got off to last season through five games, as head coach Nathaniel Hackett was fired before the season’s end. There is clearly trouble in Denver.

Up next, the Broncos will host the Green Bay Packers and will have to see the Chiefs again the following week.