Because it was the longest of yards, roughly 36 inches that stood between Broncos heartache and heartbeat Sunday, between Chiefs quarterback Tyler Thigpen and the end zone.

"I knew I was close, I knew I was real close," Broncos cornerback Dre Bly said.

"I knew I was on like the 2- or 3-yard line. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't going to carry me in, so I hit him high and I tried to take him to the ground. He's a big guy, and I just wanted to get him down as fast as possible."

In the end, the Broncos ended a three-game home losing streak with a 24-17 victory against Kansas City at Invesco Field at Mile High. They also kept their three- game lead on the Chargers in the AFC West race and nudged themselves to 8-5 with three games to play.

But it was the mass-times-acceleration meeting of the 188-pound Bly pulling down the 224-pound Thigpen that put the period at the end of the day's sentence.

The Chiefs, trailing by a touchdown, were facing fourth-and-goal from the Broncos 5-yard line with 4:44 left in the game.

On the drawing board, the ball was supposed to go from Thigpen to Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez for what would have been a score in a place where there hasn't always been an advantage to the home field.

But the Broncos had been tipping coverage toward Gonzalez all game and, like everyone else who had crunched the numbers, understood Thigpen also entered the game leading the league's quarterbacks in rushing.

"We knew when you take away his first guy, he didn't really go to the second or third," said Bly, who was positioned as a safety on the play. "Take away that first guy, and he's going to tuck it in and run."

Which is exactly what Thigpen did, crashing into Bly between the 2- and 3-yard line, falling forward as Bly pulled him to the ground.

When they hit the ground, Thigpen's helmet was on the goal line, the ball was on the 1 and the Broncos had kept their sometimes quirky march to the postseason on track.

"It was close, but I didn't get in," Thigpen said.

"(Thigpen) was real close, I mean real close to scoring," Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil said. "(Thigpen) kind of broke through the line, but Dre got him down, and that's what we needed. To get the guy down, then the offense gets a couple first downs and we get the win. We're just doing some things at the right time right now."

It was the first time this season the Broncos held an opponent to fewer than 300 yards - the Chiefs finished with 260 - and only the fourth time they have held a team to fewer than 100 yards rushing.

And after watching the Chiefs' Larry Johnson trample them for 198 yards at Arrowhead Stadium to close September, Johnson finished with 36 yards on 11 carries Sunday in the suddenly throw-happy Kansas City offense.

A team that had a defense that looked decidedly like a Football albatross hanging around its neck suddenly has won four of its past five games, including three of those on the road.

A team with a veteran cornerback now willing to invoke last year's Super Bowl winner into the discussion.

"It's like I said, I know what people said our defense could and couldn't do in the beginning of the year and how bad we were and all that. Well, to hell with that right now," Bly said. "All that matters to us is how we're playing right now.

"The Giants weren't the best team all year last year. They were the hottest team at the end, and that's all that matters.

"Let's be that hottest team at the end."

Call it a comeback

The numbers have been somewhat homely for the Broncos. And when their opponents have looked at them this season, the scouting report certainly has been written a time or two already.

That is, get the Broncos down early and they don't rally late. Too young or too fragile, it didn't seem to matter.

"But it's how you respond," defensive tackle Kenny Peterson said. "I think everybody knows it's not always going to go how you planned, you have to fight."

Heading into the game, though, the Broncos often lost the fight when they lost the early rounds. They were 1-3 in games they trailed at the end of the first quarter, 2-5 in games they trailed at halftime and 1-4 in games when the opponent scored first.

After Cutler's fourth pass of the game was snared by Chiefs cornerback Maurice Leggett and returned 27 yards for a touchdown, it could have been all of the above for the Broncos.

The turnover helped give Kansas City a 10-0 lead with slightly less than six minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Chiefs led 17-14 at halftime.

"But we didn't let them in end zone after that," linebacker Jamie Winborn said. "No points in the second half."

And with that, the Broncos won their first game where they didn't score first since an Oct. 5 win against Tampa Bay, which also happened to be their previous home victory.

OK, go get him

Necessity might be the mother of invention, but desperation certainly has been adopted by the Broncos as well.

They have, because of injuries all over the depth chart, repeatedly tossed their rookies into the hot spots on the field during the past three months.

Sunday was no different, as they chose often to give rookie safety Josh Barrett, who had been signed off their practice squad only two weeks ago, the task of matching up against uber tight end Gonzalez, whose 2008 season basically has been a checklist for the league's record book at the position.

When cornerback Champ Bailey, who has missed six games because of a groin injury, couldn't play, the Broncos' plan to use him on Gonzalez at times also stayed on the sideline.

So, at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds to go with enough speed to have run a 4.35-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine in February, the feeling was Barrett had the combination to make a battle of it.

"Any time you ask a rookie to come in and start against a guy like Tony Gonzalez and match up in man, that's obviously a tough situation for anybody, especially a young guy," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "But with his size, we thought he could match up."

Gonzalez did have five catches for 73 yards and a touchdown, but only two of those receptions, for 21 yards, came in the fourth quarter. And the Chiefs couldn't get the ball to Gonzalez as planned on the fourth-and-goal play on their last possession.

Numbers game

6-0record for the Broncos when they score at least 20 points.

INFOBOX

Crazy 8

* The Chiefs still are winless in Denver - 0-8 - since Mile High Stadium became a parking lot.

Date Score

Oct, 7, 2001 Broncos 20-6

Dec. 15, 2002 Broncos 31-24

Dec. 7, 2003 Broncos 45-27

Sept. 12, 2004 Broncos 34-24

Sept. 26, 2005 Broncos 30-10

Sept. 17, 2006 Broncos 9-6, OT

Dec. 9, 2007 Broncos 41-7

Dec. 7, 2008 Broncos 24-17