Around the AFC West, Week 2: Chiefs win, rivals lose
By Ellen Mathis
Another week around the AFC West yielded plenty of losses except for the home team. Let’s take a closer look at what went wrong for everyone else.
Welcome back to another edition of Around the AFC West.
Week 2 in the 2019 NFL season has officially wrapped. (Wait, slow down! I want to savor this!) There were controversies, injuries, and amazing plays all around, but let’s take a look at what happened in our own AFC West in a still-eventful second chapter.
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos took on the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon in a game that many have called “controversial.” The Broncos hosted the Bears at Empower Stadium at Mile High (the lamest stadium name ever) in what I had predicted would be a low scoring battle of the defenses. Turns out I was right. (There’s a first time for everything).
After lackluster performances by both offenses, this game came down to the final seconds. I have hated on quarterback Joe Flacco quite a bit, and I still don’t think he is good, but I have to hand it to him. He drove the Broncos down and threw a game-winning touchdown to Emmanuel Sanders, who made an unbelievable catch. This gave the Bears a 13-12 lead with minutes left in the game. After a series of weird penalties, the Broncos ultimately converted a 2-point conversion, taking a 14-13 lead.
A questionable roughing the passer call prolonged the Bears final drive, and after three straight incompletions and a penalty, were facing a 4th-and-15 with just 9 seconds left. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky whipped a dart across the field which allowed the receiver to go down quickly and call a timeout. The Bears, haunted by last years’ playoff double doink, held their collective windiness as new kicker Eddie Pineiro stepped onto the field and launched a perfect kick to seal the 16-14 win.
This game had everything you wanted in the final minutes and the Broncos dropped to 0-2 on the season. The Broncos did come out of the game with no new injuries although starting inside linebacker Todd Davis and cornerback Bryce Callahan were both held out of the contest again this week.
Next week, the 0-2 Broncos travel to Green Bay to take on the Green Bay Packers. The Packers are coming off a win against division rival Minnesota Vikings and look to have a pretty good defense. Of course, they are quarterbacked by Aaron Rodgers who will give any team a chance.
Given the numerous issues the Broncos are facing this year, I don’t anticipate they pull off a win. I predict the Broncos fall to 0-3 on the season. Game time is 12:00 p.m.