The Chiefs are the champions, and the Broncos are broken.

Kansas City destroyed Denver 43-16 on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon in the Mile High City, and it was brutally clear the Broncos have a long way to go.

The Chiefs regularly make basically every team they face look silly. Their playmakers and speed on offense are second to none. And Patrick Mahomes is a master of the quarterback position.

But, even with the snow falling and the offense slowed by Denver’s defense, Kansas City was able to blow out the Broncos.

Why?

Because the Chiefs are well-rounded. Complete. A three-headed monster.

The Broncos are lucky to have one phase of the game (defense) play well in any given week, which was the case this Sunday.

Kansas City’s explosive offense was limited to a mere 286 total yards on the day, and the Broncos sacked Mahomes four times while forcing a fumble as well. Hell, the Chiefs were 0-of-8 on third down!

That’s damn-near as good as a defense can play against Kansas City. But, the Broncos turned the ball over four times — including a pick-6 — and they allowed a 102-yard kickoff touchdown, too.

“Our whole team got beat by them,” Broncos head coach Vic Fangio said after the loss. “They were really good and we weren’t up to the challenge today.”

While Fangio’s defense was about as good as possible, his offense was awful and special teams continued to struggle as they have for years.

Besides the kickoff return touchdown — in which multiple players broke their lines and missed tackle opportunities — the stalwart Brandon McManus missed an extra point and there was a muffed punt by K.J. Hamler as well.

Even worse was Pat Shurmur’s offense, with Drew Lock at the helm.

Lock struggled through arguably his worst game at the NFL level as a starter, going 24-40 for 254 yards and two interceptions in the first half. Besides the picks, he forced a pass or two into coverage and had the ball slip from his hands multiple times, too.

His first career rushing touchdown was something special, adding a wrinkle into the Broncos’ offense, but that was about the extend of the good from that unit on the day.

Melvin Gordon also fumbled the ball once and then, on a flea-flicker attempt, pitched the ball way over Lock’s head for a fumble. OK, Phillip Lindsay did rumble for 79 yards on only nine carries, that was good, but then he left with an apparent concussion.

Simply, it was a butt-whooping by the division rival Chiefs, their 10th straight victory over Denver in the teams’ series against one another.

That’s incredibly lopsided, with no end really in sight.

And it was just one loss for the Broncos, in this weird 2020 season. Sure. A big-time, blowout loss to the world champion Chiefs, nonetheless.

But, this loss at the hands of Any Reid and Kansas City shows once again how far from being truly competitive the Broncos are. They are decent in just one phase of the game, but absolutely awful in the other two.

Even when the offense plays well, special teams seemingly always finds a way to muck it up for the entire team.

How long will Broncos fans have to struggle though this inept special teams play? Almost every game it looks like an opponent is going to break a return for a score, and they’ll be among the bottom-third of the league in terms of kickoff return yards allowed this season after today.

And in terms of punting, Sam Martin has seemingly been better this year than other recent punters. His 43.6 yard average is 13th-best, but his 39.5 yard net punting average is seventh-worst in the NFL. Again, coverage crops up as another issue.

The Chiefs are so good, they can beat you with any phase of the game. The Broncos are so bad, they can only win if they’re firing on all cylinders.

Part of that has to do with coaching leadership, sure. And part of it has to do with the fact that Denver’s roster was depleted a few years ago and is only now starting to be rebuilt with standout talent.

On Sunday, the Chiefs out-classed the Broncos. Denver has a long way to go until they reach that playoff level again.