DENVER — Cairo Santos’ 34-yard field goal hit the left upright and bounced through as time expired in overtime to give the Kansas Chiefs a 30-27 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday night.
That avoided the third tie in the NFL this season, something that hasn’t happened since 1973 before the league introduced overtime.
The winning kick followed a risky move by Broncos Coach Gary Kubiak, who sent his kicker out for a 62-yard try with 1:01 left only to see Brandon McManus – who has hit from 70 yards in training camp – come up short.
“It’s on me,” Kubiak said, explaining he made the move because he had confidence in his kicker.
That gave the Chiefs possession at the Denver 48 with one timeout and just over a minute remaining.
Kansas City (8-3) reached the 16 before Santos ended the game, dropping the Broncos to 7-4.
Both teams kicked field goals on their opening possession of overtime. That followed Kansas City’s tying drive late in regulation. Alex Smith threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to rookie Tyreek Hill and a conversion pass to tight end Demetrius Harris with 12 seconds left.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.