Denver, Colorado. November 18, 2025
John Elway has survived boos at Arrowhead, late-game wars with Derrick Thomas, and decades of being Kansas City’s ultimate villain. Today. in a twist no one in Broncos Country or Chiefs Kingdom ever expected. the Denver legend broke his silence and admitted that Sunday’s 22–19 win over Kansas City came with more luck than dominance. and that three officiating sequences changed the game’s fate in ways he couldn’t ignore.
The matchup at Empower Field delivered tension from kickoff to final whistle. but the penalty imbalance was impossible to overlook. Denver finished with 10 penalties for 70 yards. Kansas City with only two for 20. Yet the three most influential calls. each landing at critical turning points. tilted momentum sharply toward the home team. Even Elway. normally a defender of Mile High mystique. admitted the imbalance was real. “If those three calls go the other way. Kansas City walks out with the win. No question.”
The first turning point arrived in the second quarter. when Skyy Moore was flagged for a block-in-the-back during a Broncos punt return. The contact fit the rulebook. but rarely is such a flag thrown against a coverage gunner. Instead of Denver starting near midfield. the penalty placed the ball at the Kansas City 11 and set up an early touchdown that shifted the game’s rhythm. Elway acknowledged the impact. “You almost never see that call on the coverage team. It gave us free field position we didn’t earn.”
The second controversy surfaced in the third quarter. featuring a soft offensive holding flag paired with a missed horse-collar tackle on Isaiah Pacheco. Video showed Quinn Meinerz executing a legal inside-frame push block. yet officials ruled it a hold. Moments later. Riley Moss dragged Pacheco down by the collar without a whistle. Elway’s review of the tape left him stunned. “One was barely a foul. the other was obvious and dangerous. The refs got both parts wrong and Kansas City paid for it.”
The final and most decisive moment came with four minutes left. Courtland Sutton caught a short curl route and stretched for the marker. Nick Bolton’s hand slid under Sutton’s knee before the receiver reached the first-down line. but virtual measurement still awarded Denver the conversion by mere millimeters. The drive ended in Will Lutz’s 54-yard game-winner. and Kansas City never saw the ball again. Elway didn’t hide his disbelief. “That spot changed everything. If it’s ruled short. Denver punts. The Chiefs win.”
Across all three plays. the hidden math was staggering. Denver gained more than 40 net yards from officiating outcomes. Kansas City lost a red-zone takeaway. a midfield swing. and a final defensive stop that could have sealed the night. The Chiefs executed cleaner football. Mahomes delivered 248 yards and two touchdowns. and the defense held Bo Nix until the final minutes. Yet the judgment calls overshadowed the effort. something Elway says the league must fix.
In the end. his message was simple. Denver got the win. but Kansas City earned the right to feel wronged. “We’ll take the victory. sure. but it wasn’t as clear as the scoreboard says. The Chiefs played well enough to win. and the officiating didn’t give them a fair shot.”
When the most iconic Bronco of all time publicly admits the Chiefs should have walked out of Denver with the win. the conversation is no longer just fan outrage. It becomes a league-wide question. and another reminder that tight games deserve better than judgment calls that overshadow everything else on the field.
