After a tough but successful game down south against the New Orleans Saints, the Broncos had two weeks to regroup and get ready for a visit from the Kansas City Chiefs. But even with a bye week to help them prepare, Denver couldn’t pull through.
The Broncos had multiple opportunities to secure the victory, but an overtime decision from Gary Kubiak is what everyone is talking about Monday morning.
With the game tied 27-27 with just over a minute remaining in the game, the Broncos were facing a fourth and 10 at the Chiefs 44. If they punt the ball away, they all but ensure a tie; attempt a 62-yard field goal and risk giving Kansas City the ball in prime field position.
It’s a difficult decision, but Kubiak opted for the latter.
“My thing is that we’re going to try to win around here,” head coach Gary Kubiak said after the game. “I have a lot of confidence in our football team.”
And it’s not as if he shouldn’t have had confidence in Brandon McManus. The Broncos kicker has one of the strongest legs in the NFL, and has booted the ball through the uprights from as far away as 70 yards in practice. Not to mention, the game was being played 5280 feet above sea level.
“It was very tough,” Kubiak said, explaining his decision. “The fact that we had no timeouts made me want to go in that direction. If you did have your timeouts maybe you think about punting it down there and see if you can get the ball back. I don’t know. We’re going to try to win. I’ve seen B-Mac do that many times in practice. It’s on me. I just gave them a chance. I thought we could do it and we didn’t get it done. Give them credit.”
The call has continued to be questioned all day, but the Broncos are sticking by their decision, from Kubiak to the players to John Elway.
We're in this game to WIN. Although everyone's disappointed, we played hard & went down swinging!!!
— John Elway (@johnelway) November 28, 2016
There’s a lot of things you can say about Kubiak and his decision making, but the one thing you can’t say is that he’s conservative.