DENVER — The race is on in the AFC West.

The Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs 28-24 in Denver on Sunday with a goal-line stop as the clock expired.

Here are five observations from immediately after the game:

The late stop. Again.

A Chiefs comeback fell short.

What’s new?

Well, maybe the drama of it. The Chiefs got within 1 yard of winning the game — and even thought they gained that yard before a faint false start flag waved it off. (There were a few, uh, circumstances that probably didn’t please coach Andy Reid.)

So, OK, that exact ending is new.

But the result? It’s all-too-familiar. Last year, the Chiefs had 14 possessions with less than 8 minutes left while trailing by one score.

Their touchdown total: Zero.

The magic of the Chiefs’ dynasty was their ability to win games like this — their ability to win games like they just lost.

The kick

We’re not talking about the kicker (yet).

We’re talking about the decision to use the kicker.

The Chiefs led by three points with three minutes to play, when Reid trotted Harrison Butker out for a 54-yard field goal try. He missed, his fifth miss in three weeks.

The problem came before the miss. The data — provided by Eric Eager, then with PFF — has proven extending a three-point lead to six points late in the fourth quarter has more consequences than advantages. It often forces the opposition to be aggressive.

Here, the Broncos were awarded a short field and the Chiefs didn’t even give themselves the option of putting the game away. Which is the real point. The Chiefs had a chance to put the game away, and instead they trotted out a struggling kicker — who could have only possibly stretched the lead to six.

They lost on the last drive. They could have won the game on the drive beforehand.

The impact rookie

Emmett Johnson’s first career touchdown was a beauty.

From play-designer Andy Reid, that is.

Johnson leaked out of the backfield for a 73-yard touchdown — but he first acted as though he was going to chip or curl around the edge. Instead, he split the gap and darted upfield.

A perfect blitz-beater.

Patrick Mahomes threw the pass before Johnson had technically even crossed the line of scrimmage. Johnson had nothing but space, and stumbled to make one move before reaching the end zone for his first career touchdown.

Johnson totaled 143 yards, including 128 receiving.

The snaps

The Chiefs’ initial third down never stood a chance.

Because the center, of all players, never gave it one.

Creed Humphrey has something of the yips with his shotgun snaps. They’re significant plays. The eventual incomplete pass was worth minus-1.5 points, per the RBSDM model. And an incomplete pass was best-case scenario after Mahomes scrambled just to collect the ball and alertly fire it out of bounds.

The left side of the offensive line is already a question with Josh Simmons on injured reserve and Kingsley Suamataia benched for the second time in three games.

It’s all the more important that their most reliable lineman operates like, well, their most reliable lineman.

The division race

How much did this loss matter?

Well, before the week, Ben Baldwin’s model gave the Chiefs an 84% chance to win the division with a victory Sunday — and just a 38% chance to win the division with a loss.

That swing — a 46% difference — represented the largest swing of any team in Week 8.

So, yeah, it was a significant loss.

The Chiefs have a far more difficult remaining schedule (eighth hardest) than the Broncos do (27th), per DVOA data.

The Raiders and Chargers have all but ensured it’s merely a two-team race.

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