Denver swept Kansas City in 2025 — 22–19 at home in Week 11, then 20–13 in Arrowhead in Week 17 — the Broncos' first season sweep of the Chiefs since 2014. The natural headline is that a Denver defense that racked up 76 sacks (the second-most by any team since 2015, behind only Philadelphia's 78 in 2022) simply overwhelmed Patrick Mahomes twice.

The play-by-play tells a different story. Denver had 3 sacks in Week 11 and 1 sack in Week 17 — a combined 4 sacks in the two KC games from a defense that averaged 4.5 per game across the season. The sweep was driven by the quarterback Denver drafted, not the quarterbacks Denver hit.

Table of Contents

1. Nix's two best CPOE games came against the Chiefs
2. Week 11 — a neutral-EPA game Nix won at the margins
3. Week 17 — the run script against a backup
4. What the 76-sack defense actually did

Nix's two best CPOE games came against the Chiefs

Bo Nix's 2025 regular-season CPOE was –1.43 across 684 dropbacks. In the two Kansas City games, he posted +3.65 in Week 11 and +3.62 in Week 17. Twin performances roughly five points of CPOE above his own season baseline, against the same opponent, five weeks apart.

Mahomes' 2025 season CPOE was +0.34. Against Denver in Week 11 he came in at –2.79 on 48 dropbacks. In Week 17 he did not play; Chris Oladokun took all 22 KC dropbacks at –0.381 EPA/dropback and a 28.0% pass success rate.

So the sweep wasn't Denver's defense unmasking Mahomes — it was Nix outplaying his counterpart on accuracy in both games, and the second game featured a QB Denver would never have seen if the seeding stakes had been different.

Week 11 — a neutral-EPA game Nix won at the margins

The Week 11 box on offense was surprisingly even:

Mahomes threw for 276 yards on 45 attempts, 1 TD and 1 INT. Nix threw for 295 on 37 attempts with no TDs and no picks. Denver's run game was actively bad in this one (–0.189 EPA/rush), and its defense allowed KC 0.063 EPA/rush — this was a game the offenses were running roughly to a draw, and Nix's accuracy edge is where the margin lived. Denver's defense got 3 sacks against Mahomes on 48 dropbacks (a 6.3% sack rate) — meaningful, but not the kind of pass-rush game that a 76-sack team hangs a win on.

Final: DEN 22, KC 19. Denver closed as a 3.5-point home favorite and covered.

Week 17 — the run script against a backup

Week 17 is where the "Denver's D dominated" version of the story falls hardest apart. Denver got exactly 1 sack on Oladokun in 22 dropbacks. What the Broncos did instead was hold the ball:

• Denver ran 71 offensive plays (26 rushes, 44 dropbacks, plus a kneel) to Kansas City's 42 (17 rushes, 24 pass plays with the QB-of-record).
• Nix went 26-of-38 for 182 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT — +3.62 CPOE, +0.075 EPA/dropback.
• The Broncos handed it to a rotating backfield: RJ Harvey 14 carries for 43 yards, Jaleel McLaughlin 7 for 40, Audric Estimé (A.Prentice) and Nix combining for the rest.
• Denver's overall rush EPA/play was –0.018 — essentially neutral, not efficient — but at 26 designed runs plus a kneel, it did the job of eating clock.

Meanwhile Oladokun's KC offense posted a 28.0% pass success rate and –0.338 EPA/dropback. That's the number that decided the game. Denver was a 13.5-point road underdog and won outright by 7 — a 20.5-point cover, on the road, at Arrowhead, with a defense that got one sack.

If you want a single-number summary of Week 17: the losing team ran 42 offensive plays. That's what happens when your starting QB isn't available and the opponent's QB completes 68% at +3.6 CPOE.

What the 76-sack defense actually did

Denver finished 2025 with 76 team sacks — behind only Philadelphia's 78 from 2022 among all team-seasons since 2015. Against Kansas City it produced:

• Week 11: 3 sacks on 48 Mahomes dropbacks (6.3% sack rate).
• Week 17: 1 sack on 22 Oladokun dropbacks (4.5% sack rate).

For a defense whose season identity was pressure, that's a below-average output in the two games that mattered most in the AFC West. The signature Denver unit did not carry these games. Nix did, in two of his cleanest passing performances of the year, and in Week 17 a rushing volume script against a third-stringer took care of the rest.

The 2014 sweep was Peyton Manning's team beating Alex Smith's. The 2025 version was, in a real sense, Bo Nix's — and if I'm looking for the plot point that will feel like it aged best a year from now, it's not the 76 sacks. It's a rookie-contract quarterback posting back-to-back +3.6 CPOE games against Kansas City after a season-long –1.4.