The Denver Broncos lost Monday Night’s season opener to the Kansas City Chiefs, and one glaring difference stood out. The Chiefs committed to the run game, while the Broncos didn’t on the biggest stage of Week 1, and that choice snowballed into a blowout loss.

Denver Broncos refusal to commit to run game costly vs. Chiefs

In a deadlocked 7-7 game in the second quarter, the Kansas City Chiefs did what the Broncos refused to do. Run the football. The Broncos offense had two drives in the second quarter, where they had a 3rd and 1 and a 3rd and 2. Denver at that point only had 6 rushing attempts in the game, but on 3rd and 1, they went empty instead of trying to run it.

And Denver couldn’t stop the run. The Chiefs ran the ball at will all evening, with Kenneth Walker rattling off 14 carries for 89 yards in the first half alone to the tune of 6.4 yards per carry, with Patrick Mahomes also using his legs for 23 yards to give Kansas City 120 rushing yards in the first half.

Bo Nix and the offense had 17 passing attempts in the first half — he was also sacked twice in the first two quarters, and the team only ran the ball six times.

That’s what ultimately decided how this game would end. Denver’s defense had moments where they had Walker corralled, but he continued to find ways to wear Vance Joseph’s unit down, which resulted in self-inflicted mistakes in the tackling department.

Walker exploded for a 60-yard touchdown on the fourth play to open the second half, extending the Chiefs’ lead to 21-7.

The bad tackling continued into the fourth quarter as the Chiefs continued to gash the Broncos, ultimately leading to the Chiefs running for over 200 yards to finish the game. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Broncos had 28 missed tackles on Monday Night.

“We’ve got a short week — we’ve got to watch it, look at us, and look at what we’ve got to be better at,” Alex Singleton said after the game.

That message was consistent from Payton and multiple players in the locker room after the game, emphasizing that they can’t hide from the mistakes they made on Monday night and that they have to look themselves in the mirror, accept the critiques and coaching, and move forward as they face a short week with the Jacksonville Jaguars coming to town on Sunday.

Broncos offense struggles with self-inflicted mistakes

Outside of running the ball, the Broncos offense made a handful of mistakes procedurally and in the field of play that limited their chances of success.

Denver’s offense dealt with a couple of drops, including one from Pat Bryant on a bubble screen, and Jaylen Waddle had a tough one on a key third-down situation on a slant from Bo Nix.

Nix also seemed timid at times, including on scramble drill situations where he held onto the ball a little too long while trying to make a play, with one resulting in a fumble that was luckily blown dead due to Nix being out of bounds.

The Broncos offense was also called for holding on a couple of key plays that pushed them back into long down-and-distances or negated a positive play, including great field position after Brandon Jones intercepted Patrick Mahomes and returned it to the 10-yard line.

Penalties backed them up after that takeaway, and Denver managed to muster up a four play, -8 yard drive that was capped off by a Wil Lutz field goal.

Troy Franklin was called for offensive pass interference on a key second-down catch that would have moved the chains for a first down.

Two plays later, Nix fumbled the ball, and the Chiefs recovered it inside the 30-yard line, leading to more points for the Chiefs offense that ultimately iced the game.

Nix had three fumbles on Monday night and lost one of them, but the overall operation extends to the entire offensive side of the ball struggling, including

For a Broncos team that had a lot of hype coming into the offseason and a strong training camp, they came out flat on Monday Night Football, and that’s putting it kindly in Patrick Mahomes’ return — now they’ll face a tough test against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday as they face a short turnaround.

The response will be everything.