Chiefs at Broncos - Week 10 - Record: 5-4

I'm just going to write this and get it over with. The fourth quarter of this game hasn't even started and it's over. In fact this was over after the first touchdown the Broncos scored in the first minute of the game.

They'd said as the game began that the Broncos hadn't scored a point on their first possession in any game all season. Today they had four touchdowns in their first four possessions. They'd said that the Broncos running game was crap. Today they ran all over us. They also said their run defense was also crap. Of course, what do you think happened? We couldn't get anything on the ground. I'm pretty sure we got our first seven-yard run, our bread-and-butter all year, after we were down 21-0.

I'd seen that the Raiders beat the Broncos in Denver a few games ago, something like 59-14. How in the world did that same Broncos team get the same kind of score against us today? Sure it's the NFL. Those guys aren't Pop Warner out there. "Any given Sunday" is always applicable. Sometimes everything just goes against you and everything goes for the other guys such as it was in this game today. Yeah yeah, I know all that.

But it is official:

This Chiefs team just hasn't proven it is a true contending team. We should have known it all along. Sure the very very very nice 3-0 start was very nice. Very exhilarating -- thank you Chiefs for that. It was very fun, I do mean that. But since then, let's face it.

Our defense couldn't seal the deal against a very mediocre Houston team. We lost a game we had in the bag.

We had to go five quarters before barely beating a very beatable Buffalo team, at home.

Last week the Raiders were falling all over themselves handing us on a silver-and-black platter yet another Chiefs victory in Oakland -- a splendid gift we simply spilled all over the place.

We simply cannot win a road game -- or even avoid getting get massacred in one such as today. Since our squeaker on the road against Cleveland in the second week of the season an eternity ago, we're 0-4 on the road. Can't win on the road? -- It's a rule: You're not a contender.

What is it that really gets me about this team?

One, Matt Cassel. He drives me crazier and crazier. Some plays he's great, other plays he's plain awful. He was sacked, how many times today? Four or five? To give him credit, our banged up offensive line was banged up even more. Still, when the opponent takes out your running game by taking a massive lead early, you gotta have a passing game. Has anyone been really really really confident in our passing game at any point in the year? (Oh, and please, do you really think 400+ yards of mostly garbage-time passing yardage counts?... Really.)

Two, our defensive line. What kind of imposters were those guys out there today? Or were those guys who played so well earlier in the season the real imposters? Dorsey, Edwards, Jackson, Hali were thoroughly stood up today. Correction, if they were stood up that'd be a compliment. Really, they were pushed, shoved, kicked, mauled, completely mowed over by the Denver offensive line. It was utterly embarrassing. If those top-draft-pick guys -- you know them, Dorsey & Jackson -- if they don't come out of drifting back to being frighteningly average, we're not even remotely close to being contenders.

Three, the coaching. Were Todd Haley and his staff really prepared for this game? What do you really think? Maybe they did their best, fine. But it didn't mean a whole lot -- Denver's coaching staff was way more prepared. This was just one coaching staff kicking the pants off another. For one thing Denver's coaches were getting the very best from their fine QB Kyle Orton. He started the game regularly doing play action with a supposedly awful running game and getting away with it. Yes, our defensive backfield is also banged up, yes, I know. But where was the rest of our defense? Oh yeah... They were replaced by imposters, fergot.

What a wonderful word.

Forgot.

Definitely something to do with this piece-a- ----.
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