• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Broncos face must win vs. Chiefs

Dec 9, 2007 - 12:40 PM Kansas City (4-8) at Denver (5-7) 4:15 pm EST

DENVER (Ticker) -- A miserable two-game road trip has the Denver Broncos' playoff hopes on the verge of extinction.

Denver faces a must win when it hosts the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in an AFC West matchup.

Back-to-back losses at Chicago and Oakland have left the Broncos two games back of the Cleveland Browns for the final wild card spot in the AFC.

A leaky defense has been the main culprit for the recent tailspin. Denver allowed 71 points in the past two losses and has yielded at least 34 points five times this season.

Justin Fargas rushed for 146 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 33 carries as the Oakland Raiders snapped a five-game losing streak against the Broncos with a 34-20 victory last weekend.

Four turnovers contributed to the defeat, which left Denver two games behind division-leading San Diego.

"We're going to have to play much better ... if we're going to be in the mix," Shanahan said. "You can't play like we did and expect to win in the postseason."

The Broncos fought back from a 17-point deficit to close within 24-20 early in the fourth quarter but the Raiders scored the final 10 points to snuff out the comeback.

The previous week, Denver led by two touchdowns with 10 1/2 minutes to play but allowed the Bears to score twice in the final 5:17 to force overtime.

The situation is even more dire for Kansas City, which has dropped five straight games since taking over the division lead with a 12-10 victory over Oakland on October 21.

The spiral coincided with an injury to star running back Larry Johnson, who is expected to miss his fifth consecutive game Sunday with a mid-foot sprain.

Backup Priest Holmes also was injured and opted to retire, leaving rookie Kolby Smith to carry the running game.

A fifth-round pick, Smith has performed admirably with 233 yards and two touchdowns in his two starts, but spotty play at quarterback continues to doom the Chiefs.

Brodie Croyle supplanted Damon Huard as the starter in Week 10 but he suffered a back injury and missed last week's 24-10 loss to the Chargers.

Croyle may sit out Sunday's game as well, putting the onus on Huard to try and snap Denver's streak of six straight home wins against Kansas City.