A familiar scenario played out again Sunday afternoon in Denver.
Trailing 28-24 with 4 seconds left and the ball on the 1-yard line, Kansas City put the ball in the hands of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, expecting the type of late comeback victory he’s built his career on.
Mahomes threw a go-ahead touchdown — until a flag for a false start was thrown just as his receiver, Rashee Rice, caught the potential game-winning pass.
Backed up 5 yards and given one last play to decide the AFC West showdown, Mahomes dropped back to pass but this time was sacked to send the Chiefs to 5-2 and the Broncos to 6-2.
The ending was particularly biting. But it was just one close game in a busy season. It was the 71st game this season decided by one score or less, tying the record for most games in Week 8 since the 1970 merger.
The spotlight will all be on the last three pieces. Before the game-ending sack, Denver stuffed Chiefs star running back Kenneth Walker III on a short attempt from the one-yard line, leading to the play on which a flinch by offensive tackle Jaylon Moore got a false start flag and negated Kansas City’s go-ahead touchdown.
“I didn’t see it,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “I saw him move his head, but I didn’t see” a penalty.
The close result will also spark more debate over the job security of Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker.
When Butker, Kansas City’s kicker since 2017, signed a four-year contract reportedly worth more than $25 million in 2024, he had made 89.1 percent of his field goal attempts while helping the Chiefs win three Super Bowls.
In three years since then, his accuracy had dropped to 82%, including just 9 of 19 on attempts longer than 50 yards. This season, he had completed 11 of 16 attempts overall, and he was 2 of 6 from 50-plus yards. His accuracy was enough of a concern that Kansas City signed veteran kicker Justin Tucker to its practice squad last week as a not-so-subtle way to increase competition on Butker, even though Tucker hadn’t played in more than a year after a suspension for his off-field conduct.
Butker had attempted a 45-yard attempt earlier in the game, but with Kansas City leading 24-21 with 2:36 left in regulation, he missed a 54-yard attempt that would have extended the lead.
Denver then drove 56 yards in just two plays to take a 28-24 advantage, giving Kansas City 116 seconds for a comeback.
When Denver’s goal line held strong after sacking Mahomes on the final play, the game became the 35th this season with a game-winning score in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter or in overtime. (The NFL eight-week record is 36.)
Perhaps the ending, as wild as it was, should have been expected.
Over the past two seasons, Denver’s 16-2 record in single-score games is the best in the league.
“It has to come from the fact that we’ve done it before,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.
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