The Denver Broncos face the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday on the road, looking to keep the Kansas City Chiefs from extending their lead in the AFC West. These two teams previously met on Nov. 14, which the Broncos won, 49-39. Kyle Orton threw for four touchdowns and Tim Tebow rushed for and threw for a touchdown. However, the teams went opposite ways in the next two games. The Chiefs defeated the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks to improve to 7-4, first in the division. The Denver Broncos, meanwhile, had an embarrassing showing on Monday Night Football against the San Diego Chargers and then came up short last Sunday against the St. Louis Rams. They are 3-8, last in the AFC West.
While the playoffs are out of the picture for the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs come into this game hoping to stay ahead of a surging San Diego Chargers team. The Chiefs have the AFC Offensive Player of the Month, Matt Cassel, who threw for four touchdowns in the loss to the Broncos. Cassel threw 53 passes in that game because the Chiefs were losing by a large margin, but he and receiver Dwayne Bowe have been one of the top QB-WR duos with Bowe breaking the franchise record for receiving touchdowns.
The Denver Broncos have ruled out safety Brian Dawkins, receiver Demaryius Thomas and cornerback Andre Goodman. With the Broncos now relying on several young players in the secondary, Matt Cassel could pick apart the Broncos secondary outside of Champ Bailey.
This game will also be the first test for head coach Josh McDaniels as he is now under the watchful eye of owner Pat Bowlen. Earlier in the week, Bowlen released a statement indicating that he will evaluate Josh McDaniels' position with the Broncos based on how much the Broncos do or do not improve over the last month of the season. A win over the Chiefs would be a step in the right direction.
This will be the first meeting between Josh McDaniels and Chiefs head coach Todd Haley since Haley refused to shake McDaniels' hand after the Broncos defeated the Chiefs.
The game kicks off at 11:00 a.m MT on CBS.