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Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When a team has had the woes the Denver Broncos have thus far, Thursday’s effort in the 19-8 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was good enough for coach Sean Payton to try to walk a thin line between disappointment and discouragement.
“I told our players I was disappointed [with the loss],’’ Payton said. “But honestly … I’m not discouraged. I thought they played hard.’’
The Broncos didn’t end the now 16-game losing streak to the Chiefs and they didn’t prevent themselves from falling to 1-5 for the first time since 1994. But they did, finally, show some ability to at least push back against a league heavyweight.
Especially defensively, given the Broncos entered the game last, or near last, in the league in every major statistical category on defense. The Broncos held the Chiefs to one touchdown as Kansas City went 1-of-5 in the red zone.
That was despite the fact the Broncos’ offense and special teams, including a 29-year punt just before halftime, kept rewarding the Chiefs with a short field. The average drive start for the Chiefs in the game was the Kansas City 36-yard line and their first three possessions of the game started outside their 40-yard line.
“Our red zone defense was outstanding,” Payton said.
“There was definitely a lot of improvement, but ultimately, it was not good enough,’’ Broncos safety Justin Simmons said. “ … It’s just tough. We got to put a full game together, defensively.’’
Simmons was pointing to some loose ends like Chiefs tight Travis Kelce’s 109 yards receiving on seven catches in the first half as well as a fourth-quarter Chiefs drive just after the Broncos scored their only touchdown of the game. The Broncos were unable to force a Kansas City punt and Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker finished out a nine-play, 41-yard drive with a 52-yard field goal that pushed the Chiefs lead to 11 points with 1:55 to play.
And there was still a smattering of missed tackles, Kelce often had far too much space to work and 389 yards allowed means there is still plenty of work to do defensively. But after giving up 70 points to the Dolphins in Week 3 and the amount of rushing yards allowed over the previous month, Thursday offered a sliver of something to build upon.
“It felt like we were playing our best game all year,” said outside linebacker Nik Bonitto. “Communication-wise and effort-wise, I feel like we played really good. We just didn’t make the plays we needed to make to win the game.’’
The Broncos won’t play again until Oct. 22 against the Green Bay Packers so they will have some time to keep working. The defense’s strong effort was muted by the offense, which had three turnovers, punted five times and finished with 82 net yards passing.
“Obviously, offensively we struggled throwing the ball and our third-down numbers were poor,’’ Payton said. “ … Sometimes you don’t know how a game is going to unfold. I was happy it was unfolding the way it was relative to time and scoring. (Thursday) was a game where we certainly played well enough defensively.’’
Payton has said he has a “good feel’’ of how hard to push his team. The Broncos have also been willing to shake things up with a trade of outside linebacker Randy Gregory and the release of outside linebacker Frank Clark over the last week.
Several Broncos players have also heard their own names in the public rumor mill as the October 31 trade deadline approaches.
“That’s obviously way above my head, they can do what they want to do,’’ linebacker Alex Singleton said. “For the guys that are here, we’re going to play football games. That’s our job and we’ll let them do their job. If you’re not winning football games, then upstairs can do whatever they want.’’
When the Broncos return to the team complex Monday, the mistakes on video as well as the critiques that go with them will be waiting for them. They didn’t find a pile of solutions Thursday night, but staring at 12 weeks’ worth of season still left on the calendar, Payton was willing to do what struggling teams must do at times — take at least some solace from a close loss.
“We played an imperfect game, but I thought we had great effort and energy … on a short week,’’ Payton said. “A tough loss, I thought we played hard. That’s not always good enough if you turn the ball over. But it gives you a chance to win.’’