KANSAS CITY, Mo.— It started to feel safe to have faith again for a while on Sunday, didn’t it?

In the wake of that disillusioning 20-3 loss last week at Seattle, after all, the Chiefs seized a 24-13 third-quarter lead over host Denver in a pivotal early-season matchup. Just do no harm from there, and they take an iron grip on the AFC West and still are clutching the AFC’s top seed … for whatever that’s worth in early November.

So it was sure hard to see a maddening 28-24 loss coming after the Broncos answered that touchdown with their third straight deflating three-and-out of the second half ... to boos from their own crowd.

Then the Chiefs were on the move again early in the fourth quarter when Patrick Mahomes hit Emmett Johnson — in the midst of a breakout day — for a 5-yard gain on third-and-6 from the Kansas City 36-yard line.

At least that’s what it looked like at first glance, less than a foot shy of the first down.

Turns out that also was what it looked like upon further review, which by all indications was not shared in a timely way with the Chiefs.

In between, though, it was spotted 2 yards short of the first down.

“We asked, and it was fourth-and-2,” Mahomes said.

Enter the punt team.

“And then when we got out (of) there,” he added, “it was fourth and inches.”

What seemed to be a dereliction of duty by the officiating crew certainly made for a bizarre twist — another of those sorts of things you seldom see that seem so often to surface during the course of a Chiefs game. Endless adventures in life’s rich pageant, their games are.

Angry as he appeared at the moment, Kansas City coach Andy Reid softened it to this after the game: “Mechanically, I wasn’t sure exactly how they were operating.”

But while a more coherent and correct spotting may have affected the fourth-down decision, and perhaps the course of the game, the inflection point wasn’t the call.

Instead, well, it was how the Chiefs were operating the rest of the way.

Right when a great team clamps it down, the Chiefs frittered it away.

That included a critical breakdown on Denver’s next possession when Nick Bolton slipped covering Adam Trautman — whose 22-yard reception was amplified by a 15-yard penalty on Alohi Gilman for unnecessary roughness.

Shazam, game on again.

Five plays later, the Broncos had cut it to 24-21 on a touchdown and two-point conversion.

Then came the evidently now-obligatory Harrison Butker missed field goal, and a nearly instant Denver touchdown to take the lead.

That set up the spectacle of the Chiefs scoring an apparent game-winning touchdown on a pass from Mahomes to Rashee Rice on fourth-and-goal at the 1 … only for Jaylon Moore to be called for a false start.

Flimsy as the call looked at first glance, you can see Moore rock back for what would be the 11th penalty accepted by the Broncos.

Then Mahomes was sacked on the final play to punctuate the abiding messages of the day:

“We did a lot of great; we did a lot of good,” Mahomes said. “But when you make mistakes, you’re going to lose.”

Simple but entirely true.

The Chiefs did so much so well for a lot of the game that it had the earmarks of a heartening bounce-back until it unraveled.

Heck, even with the loss there was something encouraging about Mahomes returning from one of his worst NFL games to complete 30 of 41 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns — including his longest regular-season completion since 2021, when he hit Johnson for a 73-yard touchdown.

Speaking of Johnson, the rookie running back from Nebraska added an entire dimension to the offense with five catches for 128 yards and the team’s longest run of the day (15 yards). For good measure, he also had a 44-yard kickoff return to set up the would-be game-winning drive.

Had the Chiefs won, chances are we’d remember this as The Emmett Johnson Game.

Losing doesn’t tarnish what he demonstrated he can do for this offense, and you could also see how much better it functioned with the return of Rice — who had seven catches for 53 yards.

But no matter how different this might have been than the Seattle debacle, their second straight loss after a 5-0 start and how they squandered a substantial advantage marks a clear pendulum swing.

Especially considering this is a Denver team the Chiefs blasted 31-10 in the opener.

In fact, not only is Denver the only team the Chiefs have beaten with a winning record, but their other four wins are against teams that are a combined 7-23.

So, sure, the Chiefs might figure to be revived soon with their next three games against the New York Jets (2-6), Atlanta Falcons (3-5) and Arizona Cardinals (3-5).

But that’s not going to matter so much if they aren’t also improving in that span with a defining crucible remaining thereafter: at Buffalo (6-1), at the Los Angeles Rams (4-4) and at Cincinnati (5-2) before closing out December at home against the Patriots (5-3) and 49ers (6-1).

It could very well happen. We know Steve Spagnuolo’s defenses tend to get better through the year, and we’ve seen the modern Chiefs come out of early funks to romp the rest of the way.

And dispiriting as blowing a lead is, it beats getting outclassed like they did last week.

Even as he was saying “losses are losses,” Mahomes added, “Last week, we didn’t have the fight that we had this week. I thought the fight was better.”

It wasn’t enough, though, and it leaves you wondering if the Chiefs have enough to return to their recent glory of five Super Bowls in six seasons before plummeting to 6-11 in 2025.

Unless someone emerges soon, for instance, they’re at least one receiver shy of being able to make defenses respect the passing offense enough to give Kenneth Walker some room to roam. After dominating through their first five games, Walker has 105 yards on 35 carries over the last two games.

And while Butker’s latest miss didn’t cost them the game, it certainly changed the final dynamics — including that the Chiefs would have needed only a field goal at the end if he’d made the one he missed. After the controversial signing of Justin Tucker to the practice squad last week, stay tuned for the even-more contentious prospect of him taking Butker’s place.

Meanwhile, a defense that entered the game second in the league in fewest points allowed (17.2) can’t let Denver back in the game like that — unless it’s just not that good after all.

Just the same, Mahomes was right when he said it’s still early in the season and “we can do whatever we want. It’s all out in front of us.”

It’s going to be behind them soon, though, if they keep having these kinds of lapses and gaps in their game right when you might think they’ve got it back.

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