NFL 2016 Game of the Week Preview, Week 12: Broncos vs Chiefs

(photo credit: blogs.denverpost.com)

The Kansas City Chiefs (7-3) face the Denver Broncos (7-3) on Sunday Night Football at Mile High Stadium. This will be the 112th meeting between these two storied franchises, with the Chiefs leading the series, 57-53. However, the Broncos have won seven of the last eight meetings.

This will be the first time this season that the Chiefs and Broncos face off. They will meet again in Week 16 at Arrow Head Stadium. The Broncos and Chiefs trail the AFC West leading Oakland Raiders (8-2), which makes this a crucial game for both teams if they want to keep pace with the surging Raiders.

Keeping pace with Oakland is going to be a challenge for both the Broncos and Chiefs. Both teams have the toughest remaining strength of schedule in the AFC for the rest of this season. Their remaining opponents have a combined winning percentage of .607.

The Broncos need to open up their offense, but in order to do that, they need their defense to create more turnovers for fear their offense might do the same.

Despite the Chiefs 7-3 record, they've been slightly unimpressive. There were games where their defense shined, however, by forcing multiple turnovers and not allowing the opposing team any offensive touchdowns. The Chiefs offense and defense, though, are coming off a tough loss at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Making this an even bigger game for Kansas City given Denver's recent dominance over them. During the past 15 seasons, the Broncos are 20-12 versus their divisional rivals, and are 12-4 in games played at Mile High.

If the Chiefs defense can't keep the Broncos out of the endzone, then their offense which is led by quarterback Alex Smith, will have to score more than the 1.8 touchdowns they average on the season.