That's how close Tyler Thigpen came to the goal line and the game-tying touchdown on his fourth-and-goal scramble from the 5 with 4:35 remaining in a game the Broncos led only 24-17.

But, with the game suddenly put on the back of the Chiefs' defense, the league's worst, that foot might just as well have been a mile.

Believing his team could get a stop with the Broncos pinned deep in their own end should his fourth-down gamble fail, coach Herm Edwards instead saw Jay Cutler convert twice on third-and-nine or longer, and the Broncos were able to kill the final 41/2 minutes to preserve their eighth straight victory over the Chiefs in games played in Denver.

"I felt that was our best chance," Edwards said of his decision not to take points at the Denver 5. "The ball's on the 1 and you know they'll run it to melt some clock. But you're also going to have to defend one pass, and they make a good throw to Brandon."

But it was more than just Cutler's 19-yard conversion to Brandon Marshall on third-and-10 from the 1. Cutler later faced third-and-9 from the 21 and converted that, too, on an 11-yarder to Tony Scheffler. The Chiefs never got the ball back.

The Broncos converted 9 of 14 third-down attempts, amassed 425 yards of offense and held the ball for 361/2 minutes, yet Edwards somehow thought he'd get a stop from his defense in crunch time.

Denver scored the final 17 points after the Chiefs twice held 10-point first-half leads, the final coming at 17-7 in the second quarter.

The Chiefs did get one defensive gem, that coming when rookie corner Maurice Leggett got his second TD in as many weeks with a 27-yard Pick Six off Cutler.

Other than that, however, Cutler did pretty much what he wanted in completing 32 of 40 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns. He drove the Broncos on scoring drives of 80 yards twice and 95 once.

"Everything we did right in the first half, we messed up on in the second," said guard Brian Waters. "We didn't score points when we had opportunities, and eventually they got rolling and we couldn't get them off the field."