KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s been more than eight years and nearly an entire NFL season’s worth of games since the Denver Broncos bested the Kansas City Chiefs.
Andy Reid and company last lost to Denver in September 2015 before splitting the season series against the eventual Super Bowl champions a few months later.
Kansas City hasn’t lost to their AFC West rivals since, a streak that reached 16 consecutive games with a 19-8 victory Thursday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I didn’t know that,” second-year cornerback Trent McDuffie said when asked about the streak.
The Chiefs’ domination now spans six Broncos head coaches, including interim coach Jerry Rosburg last season.
Denver’s skid started on Gary Kubiak’s in November 2015.
Kansas City swept Kubiak’s squad in 2016, went 4-0 during the next two seasons with Vance Joseph at the helm and 6-0 the three seasons after that after Vic Fangio took the reins.
Nathaniel Hackett wasn’t able to end the Chiefs’ streak before getting fired 15 games into his first and only season as the Broncos’ head coach.
Denver’s new ownership group broke the bank to lure Sean Payton out of retirement, but the early returns on that investment haven’t been good.
They were especially poor Thursday at Arrowhead, where tight end Travis Kelce and Kansas City’s defense put on a show in demolishing Denver.
Kelce — whose new friend, Taylor, watched the game with his mom, Donna, from a suite for the second straight home game — was questionable with a sprained ankle.
But he left no doubt that the Broncos couldn’t cover him after the game started.
Kelce finished with nine catches for a season-high 124 yards, his first 100-yard game of the season and the 36th of his career.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs’ defense — buoyed by the return of middle linebacker Nick Bolton, who missed three games with his own sprained ankle — busted the Broncos with ease, allowing only 197 yards and keeping a shutout for more than 53 minutes.
The NFL record for the longest win streak over one opponent is 20 games.
Miami beat Buffalo during every matchup in the 1970s, so the soonest Kansas City could break the record would be 2025.
UNSTOPPABLE JONES: On a night when the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Chiefs honored the late Derrick Thomas, defensive end Chris Jones knocked him from atop the record franchise record book.
Jones sacked Russell Wilson late in the first half, giving him at least one sack in his first five games to start the season.
That breaks a tie with Thomas for the most consecutive games with a sack to start a season.
Thomas, who is the Chiefs’ all-time leader and ranks 25th in NFL history with 126 1/2 career sacks, set the record in 1996.
Jones, who has at least one sack in eight straight regular-season games dating back to last season, now has 5 1/2 sacks on the season.
He missed the season-opening loss to Detroit amid a contract holdout before signing a reworked, incentive-laden, one-year deal.
Kansas City sacked Wilson four times, hit him seven times — including three for Jones — and was credited with 16 pass defenses.
Wilson finished 13 of 22 for 95 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
KICKING BUTT-KER: For the second straight week, Harrison Butker banged home a field goal as the first-half clock hit zero — and this time it was a bomb.
Butker crushed his season long, hammering a 60-yard field goal through the uprights for a 13-0 halftime lead.
It was Butker’s second field goal of the half and one of four he’d hit on the night — including a 35-yarder in the first quarter, a 25-yarder in the third quarter and a 52-yarder to ice the victory with 1:55 remaining.
Before that kick to close the second quarter, Butker’s longest field goal of the season was 41 yards.
After suffering a sprained ankle and slogging through the 2022 season, Butker has been perfect so far in 2023.
He’s 14 for 14 on field-goal tries and 15 for 15 on extra points.
SNEAKY SIMMONS: Denver safety Justin Simmons has more interceptions against the Chiefs (five) than any other team, including picking off Patrick Mahomes four times.
No player in the NFL has intercepted Mahomes more than Simmons, who snuffed out Kansas City’s second drive with a pick near the goal line.
The Chiefs led 3-0 and had a chance to extend that lead after Nick Bolton intercepted Russell Wilson near midfield.
“That was a beautiful interception — full extension, went and plucked it out of the sky,” safety Justin Reid said. “That was really cool to see him come back and make a play like that.”
Four plays later, Mahomes returned the favor, but it was the Chiefs' only turnover.
Justin Reid also picked off Wilson for his first interception with Kansas City, while McDuffie forced a fumble that linebacker Willie Gay Jr. recovered.
UP NEXT: The Chiefs remain at home and continue a three-week run of AFC West games.
Kansas City welcomes the Los Angeles Chargers to Arrowhead on Oct. 22 with defensive end Charles Omenihu set to return from a six-game suspension.
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