During the Kansas City Chiefs’ 38-0 loss to the division-rival Denver Broncos in Week 18, fans took to X, formerly Twitter, to accuse the Chiefs of throwing their regular season finale.
“Chiefs didn’t want to face us, plain and simple. They threw the game,” one Bengals fan wrote. “Prove me wrong. Yes our record isn’t great, but showing our recent history with KC, we’re a threat, they didn’t want us in the playoffs.”
“When the announcers say ‘we are gonna take you to a more competitive game’ [because] a 15-1 team is throwing the game, that’s bad. And beyond shady,” another person wrote.
“Chiefs clearly throwing their game today,” another person wrote. “Dolphins have most of their starters playing but you’d think they were the ones throwing a game today the way they’ve played against the Jets.”
“Another reason to hate the chiefs. They legit scared of Joey [Burrow] coming back to Burrowhead. [Of course] they would throw this game. He’s their only threat,” another person wrote.
Chiefs Ruin Dolphins, Bengals’ Playoff Hopes
Kansas City’s loss to Denver in Week 18 significantly impacted the playoff hopes for the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals. Because the Chiefs lost to the Broncos, Denver clinched the last Wild Card spot in the AFC, which bumped the Dolphins and Bengals out of playoff contention regardless of the outcomes of their respective Week 18 matchups.
Based on the shared reactions on social media, there is a belief amongst some fans that the Chiefs lost so they didn’t have to face the Bengals during the postseason. However, it was going to be very hard for Kansas City to win against a red-hot Broncos team when a number of the team’s key starters were sidelined for that game.
Against the Broncos, Chiefs backup quarterback Carson Wentz — who got the start under center — completed 10-of-17 pass attempts for 98 yards. The team’s leading receiver was Nikko Remigio, who caught two passes on six targets for 48 yards. Kansas City’s leading rusher was rookie running back Carson Steele, who had eight carries for 25 yards.
As for the Chiefs’ defense, the unit surrendered 479 yards of total offense and did not force any turnovers nor did they record any sacks against Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix.
Nix had a career day by completing 26-of-29 pass attempts for 321 yards and four touchdowns.
The Chiefs finished the regular season with a 15-2 record and now enter their bye week, which is during the first round of the playoffs.
X Users React to Chiefs’ Loss to Broncos
X users reacted to Kansas City’s loss to Denver in Week 18.
“Wait…wait…. people on here acting like its a shock our 2nd and 3rd stringers loose to Denver at full force… Like… you know how football works right? If #15 is out, Wentz is till going to be in there with Trav (Travis Kelce), [Xavier] Worthy, JuJu [Smith-Schuster] and the other starters right?” one person wrote.
“THINK ABOUT IT, Patrick Mahomes needed time to heal before the playoffs! And really this game did nothing to impact the season! And they had backups in! So don’t be overreacting,” another person wrote.
