Wil Lutz kicked a 35-yard field goal as time expired, and the host Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs 22-19 on Sunday for their eighth straight win.
Denver (9-2), which overcame 147 yards in penalties, leads the AFC West by two games over the Los Angeles Chargers and 3 1/2 over Kansas City (5-5), which has lost two straight.
The game was tied at 19 when the Broncos drove from their 26 to the Chiefs’ 15 before Bo Nix took a knee to set up Lutz’s fifth field goal of the day. Lutz’s kick split the uprights.
Nix, who was 24-for-37 passing for 295 yards, completed two third-down passes to Courtland Sutton and a 32-yarder to Troy Franklin on the drive.
Jaleel McLaughlin rushed for Denver’s only touchdown.
Patrick Mahomes was 29-for-45 passing for 276 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Kareem Hunt ran for a score and Travis Kelce had nine catches for 91 yards and a TD for Kansas City.
The Chiefs trailed 16-13 when Mahomes connected with Kelce on a 21-yard TD pass, but Frank Crum blocked the extra point to keep it 19-16 with 9:57 left.
It was the 84th TD reception of Kelce’s career, a team record.
Lutz capped a six-play drive with a tying field goal from 54 yards out with 4:10 remaining. Kansas City went three-and-out and the Broncos used the final 2:59 to get the win.
Denver had an interception called back on the Chiefs’ first drive of the second half, but Ja’Quan McMillian picked off Mahomes in the red zone later on the same possession.
The Broncos turned that into six points when McLaughlin scored from 4 yards out. Kansas City answered right away on Hunt’s 2-yard plunge with 49 seconds left in the third quarter.
Denver drove to the Chiefs’ 20 on the ensuing drive and took a 16-13 lead on Lutz’s 38-yard field goal early in the fourth.
In a slow-developing first half, Lutz kicked two short field goals and Harrison Butker made a pair from 31 yards out to send the game into halftime tied 6-6.
