The Kansas City Chiefs recorded their 16th straight win over the Denver Broncos on Thursday night as they continued to march towards another AFC West title thanks to a 19-8 success.

Andy Reid's team started the season with a defeat to the Detroit Lions, but that is now a distant memory after a fifth-straight win that pushes their record to 5-1.

While the Chiefs can look forward with optimism thanks to another fine performance from Patrick Mahomes, the Broncos are now 1-5 and struggling on both sides of the ball.

Mahomes has the Chiefs singing on offense

As the reigning champions, the Kansas City Chiefs are never outside the spotlight in the NFL.

Quarterback Mahomes passed for 306 yards and one touchdown to help his team over the line, and he continues to improve each week after a slow start to the season, for his standards anyway.

Travis Kelce was nursing an ankle injury ahead of kick-off on Thursday, but he dug deep to catch nine passes for 124 yards, much to the delight of his ever-growing fanbase.

Kansas did not blow Denver away, but they did enough to win, and that is often a sign of a good football team.

They had kicker Harrison Butker to thank as well, as he kicked four field goals, but their defense stole the show as they forced Denver into numerous mistakes.

Kansas will need to improve with the ball, though. Mahomes and Reid have yet to find a way to consistently get the Chiefs over the line in the red zone.

For now, the Chiefs are doing enough to get wins on the board, and that is fine, but they will need to find answers on offense if they are to win another NFL Championship.

Wilson vows to respond

Denver's season is practically over. It should be noted that we are only in Week 6.

The Broncos lost to the New York Jets last week, even though Robert Saleh's team is struggling without Aaron Rodgers. They needed to take the game to the Chiefs, but quarterback Russell Wilson had a night to forget.

Denver's defense has struggled all season under new head coach Sean Payton, but Thursday's defeat was down to Wilson.

He failed to recognise pressure on occasions, often running into sacks when he could have escaped the pocket. He was brought down four times in total.

Wilson completed 13 of 22 passes for 95 yards and one touchdown, but he was also picked off on two occasions.

The Broncos are now 1-5 for the season, which is their worst start to a season since 1994, and Wilson took the blame for his poor display.

"I think the best thing we can do is just keep believing," said Wilson. "We had a chance, we've got to play better, cleaner."

"I've got to play better. That starts with me, and I know I'll respond the right way."

The Broncos have not lived up to the hype set by Payton in pre-season, when he claimed the team were badly coached in 2022. While that may be the case, his arrival has not improved the results or performances, and Denver are in a tricky spot at the minute.

Wilson's contract grows to a cap hit greater than $50 million in 2025, and he is signed to the Broncos through 2028 when he turns 40 years old.

Defensively, they showed a bit more fight to take the game to the Chiefs, but they have yet to recover from some of their heavy defeats earlier this season.

After giving up 70 points to the Miami Dolphins, they could have crumbled against the Chiefs, but they made the game competitive and deserve credit after a short turnaround.

The Broncos return to home turf to face the Green Bay Packers in Week 7, while the Chiefs welcome the Los Angeles Chargers to Arrowhead Stadium.