ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Any celebration the Denver Broncos may have had after their 19-17 win Sunday over the Green Bay Packers was probably short-lived.
Because in order to get to their Week 9 bye and any rest that may offer, the Broncos have to face the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes on Sunday -- the second time in a 17-day span. Mahomes is coming off a 424-yard, four-touchdown blitz of the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 7.
"We're happy to get the win, happy we've done some things better, happy we've gotten some consistency back," safety Justin Simmons said. " ... But I've said we have to approach it like this could have cost us or this could have cost us when we look back at it. I think we're hitting our stride, communicating better, doing those things better, but we need to keep cleaning things up going into game with K.C."
The Broncos will be without safety Kareem Jackson after the league suspended him four games on Monday him for repeated violations of unnecessary roughness rules.
Jackson was ejected for the second time this season early in the fourth quarter Sunday when he slammed into Packers tight end Luke Musgrave. Jackson has already been fined four times for previous hits.
And the Broncos' next two games -- sandwiched around their Week 9 bye -- are against Mahomes and the Buffalo Bills and quarterback Josh Allen.
The Broncos' defense continues to claw out of the sinkhole that was the Week 3, 50-point loss to the Miami Dolphins, a game the Dolphins topped 300 yards rushing and scored 10 touchdowns. In the last two games the Broncos surrendered one touchdown in the 19-8 loss to the Chiefs Oct. 12 on "Thursday Night Football" and followed that with Sunday's effort to keep the Packers to 17 points, including one Green Bay touchdown on a deflected pass.
That's a long way from surrendering at least 28 points in four of their first five games on their way to last, or next to last, in most of the league's major defensive categories.
"Sean [Payton] talked about the difference between a groove and a rut," Broncos safety P.J. Locke said of his head coach. "He was saying just how slightly different they can be."
Locke, in his fourth season with the Broncos, will likely fill in for Jackson.
"[Sunday's win] wasn't perfect, but 17 points is a good total," Broncos defensive end Zach Allen said. "We just need to fix the sloppy things and play a little better in the run game and we'll be good."
"We just have to keep putting in that work," Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II said. " ... We've shown we can do some things and get right, but we have to keep going."
Locke intercepted quarterback Jordan Love with 1:40 left in the game Sunday to end the Packers' last-gasp drive. And the Broncos also started Fabien Moreau at the right cornerback spot Sunday for the first time this season. Moreau was moved into the lineup in place of Damarri Mathis, who had been playing cornerback opposite of Surtain. Moreau finished with four tackles and knocked a pass down.
The Broncos will have to get more out of their pass rush as well. They did not sack Love, and they got to Mahomes just twice on his 48 dropbacks in the Oct. 12 loss to the Chiefs.
The Broncos jettisoned both outside linebackers Randy Gregory and Frank Clark earlier this month, Gregory by trade, Clark by release, and that has impacted their rotation at outside linebacker.
Baron Browning's return should help. Browning, who had offseason knee surgery and had not played this season, finished with an assisted tackle and knocked down one pass in his debut on Sunday.
Overall, the Broncos hit Love just three times and will need to try to unsettle Mahomes and Allen far more in the near future.
"It's just us guys and everyone else can count us out, whatever," Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton said. "Do whatever you guys want. We're going to keep coming to work, and we're going to keep playing and if we keep doing what we're doing, we'll continue to win."