We interrupt this blog series for an important announcement:
Broncos beat the Chiefs 24 – 9!
I know it’s only football, which is ultimately entertainment, but the Broncos have not beaten the Chiefs since 2015 when Peyton Manning was the quarterback. Chief’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes has NEVER lost to the Broncos…until yesterday.
It’s hard to pressure Mahomes because he’s so mobile, but here’s an example of what happened all game long. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
It really is a classic application of “forgetting what is behind” from Philippians 3.13. Last week, when the Broncos beat the Packers (I was there), reporters asked head coach Sean Payton about the Broncos’ halting the streak of losing 10 straight games after leading at halftime. Sean would have none of it. “That’s not this team, and we don’t think about so-called streaks like that anyway. We just try to win the game that’s in front of us.”
Of course, during the Chiefs game, there was no end to the announcers talking about the Broncos losing all those games to the Chiefs. Again, not this team. This team lost to the Chiefs 19 – 8, 17 days ago. Yesterday, the Broncos turned the tables. Sean Payton was clear in the postgame interview: “The focus was on this game.”
Coach Payton also reminded us that he is a teacher, and the team has to learn, for example, to roll with the events and not get down when there’s a missed call. It’s all about the mindset and the preparation. He said, “I thought Wednesday was our best practice this year.”
Another sidelight is the Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph. After the disastrous Miami game earlier this season where the Broncos lost 70 – 20 (not a typo!), I was among those wondering, “Why is he still here?” Yet a few weeks later, he orchestrates a game where the vaunted Chiefs are held to 9 points. In fact, counting the previous Chiefs game against the Broncos, the Chiefs scored one touchdown in 8 quarters.
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, ESV)
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, ESV)