Sam McDowell: Five things that stood out about the Chiefs' loss to the Broncos on Christmas

Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star on Dec 25, 2025

Published in Football

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s been a strange season.

The Chiefs giving the Broncos, technically the No. 1 seed in the AFC, a last-minute fight fits the billing.

The Broncos beat the Chiefs, 20-13, on Christmas night, slamming the door with a late touchdown rather than a field goal after Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones jumped offside.

Needing to drive the full length of the field rather than just get a field goal, the offense did what it did in all but one of its eight drives. It stalled.

But I’ll start elsewhere with the five observations from immediately after the game.

1. Travis Kelce’s last dance?

There’s but one thing that prevents us from calling Christmas Day in Kansas City a meaningless football game for the home team.

It might be the last ride for one of its all-time greats.

Travis Kelce has said he will wait until after the season to decide whether he will retire or play next season, but he acknowledged, “it’s a unique time in my life” when I asked him about it a week ago.

Which makes it a unique time for his Chiefs career too.

Kelce did take an extra beat in pregame warmups to soak in an ovation. He waved at the camera, smile on his face, after his first catch turned a third down into a first down.

He finished the game with five catches for 36 yards.

If this is it, no offensive skill position has enjoyed as prolific a Chiefs career as Kelce, the franchise leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns.

Patrick Mahomes has had the talent. Kelce has had every bit the imprint on the identity of this team.

2. A youth movement?

A week after relying on the veterans in Tennessee, the Chiefs turned to some of the rookies.

Well, kind of.

They didn’t give fourth-round wide receiver Jalen Royals and fifth-round linebacker Jeffrey Bassa full roles, but they did give them each a role, which is more than can be said from a week earlier.

But only barely.

The Chiefs used Royals basically as an occasional run-blocker rather than an actual route-runner. It’s startling they either don’t feel comfortable putting him into the pass game, or aren’t prioritizing it, or both.

Bassa got one series with the defense before halftime, but, well, that’s about it.

If they wanted to ease those guys into action, this was what they could’ve done last week against the Titans, and perhaps they would’ve been prepared for a few more snaps this week and a more of a regular role in the season finale next week in Las Vegas.

There was one rookie worth mentioning, though ...

3. The rookie flashes

The Chiefs seem hesitant to use rookie Brashard Smith at his drafted position out of the backfield.

But they made him the focal point at other spots — as a first-read option as a receiver on third-down plays, and as a returner.

He shined in both.

Smith caught a pass out of the backfield for the Chiefs’ touchdown, a score that required him to break a tackle a yard shy of the goal line.

With Nikko Remigio out, Smith also handled the return duties. His 44-yard tiptoe down the sideline on a punt return led to the Chiefs’ fourth-quarter field goal that tied the game.

I don’t know if Smith will ever be an answer as an early-down back — and the signs are illustrating the Chiefs don’t either — but he might be a weapon elsewhere.

4. The Chiefs without Mahomes

It turns out, that Patrick Mahomes guy is pretty valuable to what the Chiefs run.

If it seemed like a grind offensively with Mahomes — and it was in his final two appearances before the season-ending ACL surgery — that was nothing compared to what it’s looked like without him.

The Chiefs were at 3.3 yards per play, their third-worst mark since 2012.

Third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun stepped into a tough assignment in his first career start, operating with the fourth- and fifth-string offensive tackles against the team that leads the NFL in pressure rate — and, oh, by the way, has the reigning defensive player of the year in the back end.

But it wasn’t the offense that kept the game competitive.

5. The best play I saw

A Nick Bolton interception.

At last.

After a season full of could-have-been-interceptions, should-have-been interceptions, Bolton’s first pick of the year came on the one requiring the highest degree of difficulty.

He had some help from Kristian Fulton. Well, he had a lot of help from Kristian Fulton.

Fulton dived to deflect a third-down pass, and Bolton dived to scoop the deflection from 5 yards away before getting his body down in bounds.

It was a remarkable catch, and you’d be surprised the player who made it has struggled to complete the catch on potential interceptions, even when he puts himself in position to make them.

Fulton made more than a few plays Thursday. Too little, too late.