Chiefs' valiant effort falls short against the Broncos in a Christmas night thriller

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chris Oladokun saw in defeat on Thursday night why he thinks the Kansas City Chiefs soon will be winners again.

Patrick Mahomes was out with a knee injury, as was backup Gardner Minshew, forcing Oladokun into his first career start. He was down to his fifth and sixth offensive tackles and without injured wide receivers Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton.

The defense was just as beat up, missing top cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, who went on injured reserve.

Yet in a season with nothing left to play for, the Chiefs took the Broncos — barreling toward the AFC West title and perhaps the No. 1 seed in the playoffs — down to the wire. It took Bo Nix throwing a touchdown pass in the final minutes, and a defensive stand at the other end, for Denver to escape with a 20-13 victory on Christmas night at Arrowhead Stadium.

“You saw tonight, team in the eyes of many not playing for much, bunch of starters, a bunch of key players out, going on IR, and we battled,” Oladokun said afterward. "We battled tonight versus one of the top teams in the NFL. One of the top defenses. One of the top offenses in the league. And we were there till the end.

“I'm not down on Kansas City,” Oladokun added. “I don't think people should be down on us. Sometimes in life you need a little kick in the butt, and it catapults you into next season. I think that's what is going to happen for us.”

It won't be that easy.

The Chiefs (6-10) had plenty of shortcomings even before a catastrophic wave of late-season injuries, from an inability to rush the passer to a dearth of playmakers in the backfield. They could use upgrades at all three levels of the defense, and they will likely have to find the successor for Travis Kelce, who may announce his retirement after playing 13 seasons in the league.

Then there were the silly mistakes that dogged them all season, and showed up again Thursday night, that coach Andy Reid and his staff will have to fix. The biggest: When the Chiefs held the Broncos at fourth-and-1 inside the 10-yard line in the closing minutes, and they never had any intention of snapping the ball, Chris Jones jumped offside anyway for an automatic first down.

Denver scored the decisive touchdown three plays later, rather than kicking the field goal that coach Sean Payton was expecting.

“We’ve been beating ourselves up this year a lot, especially with critical errors in critical situations. It’s like, I can’t do that,” Jones said, "but this has been happening throughout the year. We’ll get better.”

Indeed, there is a lot of room for improvement before next season kicks off in less than nine months.

But there is reason for optimism, too.

The Chiefs' defense kept them in the game against the Broncos, using a soft zone and making them grind through clock management with long scoring drives. It was a brilliant strategy by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who showed why he remains among the best in the game, and it was executed well by a defense missing several important players.

The offense needs a whole lot of help, though that comes with the caveat that it was missing a slew of players. Oladokun managed to play reasonably well, given the circumstances, but Kansas City still managed just 139 yards of total offense.

Rookie cornerback Nohl Williams has been picked on a lot this season, and the growing pains have been real. But he showed how much he's progressed on Thursday night, helping to hold Pro Bowl wide receiver Courtland Sutton to four catches for 40 yards, and the Denver offense to 303 yards total — 182 of that through the air.

Wide receiver Xavier Worthy dropped a couple of passes, failed to catch a ball in three targets and seemed to underscore what's been a disappointing season for the former first-round pick. That he seems no better than he was as a rookie is alarming.

The Chiefs sustained no new injuries in the game against Denver.

190 — Kelce caught a pass in his 190th consecutive game, and perhaps his last at Arrowhead Stadium. If he catches one in next week's season finale in Las Vegas, he would break a tie with Marvin Harrison for the fourth-longest streak in NFL history. The players with longer streaks are Jerry Rice (274), Larry Fitzgerald (256) and former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez (211).

The Chiefs visit the Raiders next weekend for their final game of the season.

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Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, center, pushes through across the goal line to score on a run as Kansas City Chiefs safety Jaden Hicks (21), cornerback Kristian Fulton, second from right, and linebacker Drue Tranquill, right, try to stop him during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Kansas City. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) reacts after scoring on a touchdown run against the Kansas City Chiefs during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Kansas City. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Kansas City Chiefs running back Brashard Smith (24) celebrates with wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster after scoring a touchdown against the Denver Broncos during the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Kristian Fulton (8) breaks up a pass intended for Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Kansas City. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Chris Oladokun throws a pass against the Denver Broncos during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Kansas City. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

JABO, Nigeria (AP) — Sanusi Madabo, a 40-year-old farmer in the Nigerian village of Jabo, was preparing for bed Thursday night when he heard a loud noise that sounded like a plane crashing. He rushed outside his mud house with his wife to see the sky glowing a bright red.

The light burned bright for hours, Madabo said: “It was almost like daytime."

He did not learn until later that he had witnessed a U.S attack on an alleged Islamic State camp.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced late Thursday that the U.S had launched a “powerful and deadly strike” against forces of the Islamic State group in Nigeria. The Nigerian government has since confirmed that it cooperated with the U.S government in its strike.

Residents of Jabo, a village in the northwestern Nigerian state of Sokoto, told The Associated Press in interviews Friday that they were seized with panic and confusion at the airstrikes.

They also said the village had never been attacked by armed gangs as part of the violence the U.S. says is widespread, though such attacks regularly occur in neighboring villages.

“As it approached our area, the heat became intense," recalled Abubakar Sani, who lives just a few houses from the scene of the explosion.

"Our rooms began to shake, and then fire broke out,” he told AP. “The Nigerian government should take appropriate measures to protect us as citizens. We have never experienced anything like this before.”

The Nigerian military did not respond to an AP request asking how many locations were targeted.

The strikes are the outcome of a monthslong tense diplomatic clash between the West African nation and the U.S.

The Trump administration has said Nigeria is experiencing a Christian genocide, a claim the Nigerian government has rejected.

But now Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the strikes resulted from intelligence sharing and strategic coordination between the two governments.

Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria's foreign minister, called the airstrikes a “new phase of an old conflict" and said he expected more strikes to follow.

“For us, it is something that has been ongoing," Tuggar added, referring to attacks that have targeted Christians and Muslims in Nigeria for years.

Bulama Bukarti, a security analyst on sub-Saharan Africa at the Tony Blair Institute, said the fear of residents is compounded by a lack of information.

Residents say there were no casualties, and security operatives have cordoned off the area.

But the Nigerian government has not released information about the militants who were targeted or any post-strike assessment of casualties.

“What can help in dousing the tension is for the American and Nigerian governments to declare who was targeted, what was attacked, and what has happened so far,” Bukarti said. Such information is "still missing, and the more opaque the governments are, the more panic there would be on the ground, and that is what will escalate tension.”

Analysts say the strikes might have been intended for the Lakurawa group, a relatively new entrant to Nigeria's complex security crisis.

The group's first attack was recorded around 2018 in the northwestern region before the Nigerian government officially announced its presence last year. The composition of the group has been documented by security researchers as primarily consisting of foreigners from the Sahel region of Africa.

However, experts say ties between the Lakurawa group and the Islamic State are unproven. The Islamic State West African Province, a branch of ISIS in Nigeria, has its strongholds in the northeastern part of the country, where it is currently involved in a power struggle with its parent organisation, Boko Haram.

“What might have happened is that, working with the American government, Nigeria identified Lakurawa as a threat and identified camps that belong to the group,” Bukarti said.

Meanwhile, some local people feel vulnerable.

Aliyu Garba, a village leader in Jabo, told AP that debris left by the strikes was scattered, and residents rushed to the scene. Some picked up pieces of the debris, hoping for valuable metal to trade, and Garba said he fears they could get hurt.

For 17-year-old Balira Sa’idu, the strike rattled her as she prepared to get married.

“I am supposed to be thinking about my wedding, but right now I am panicking," she said. “The strike has changed everything. My family is afraid, and I don’t even know if it is safe to continue with the wedding plan in Jabo.”

Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

This story has been corrected with the proper spelling of the name of analyst Bulama Bukarti. Previous versions incorrectly spelled the last name as Burkati.

People visit the site of a U.S. airstrike in Northwest, Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/ Tunde Omolehin)

A boy picks debris at the site of a U.S. airstrike in Northwest, Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/ Tunde Omolehin)

Police Anti-Bomb squad inspect the site of a U.S. airstrike in Northwest, Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/ Tunde Omolehin)

Nigeria police, Anti-Bomb squad, secure the scene of a U.S. airstrike in Northwest, Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/ Tunde Omolehin)

People visit the site of a U.S. airstrike in Northwest, Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/ Tunde Omolehin)