KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It wasn’t easy, but the Broncos in a mostly silent locker room tried to look on the bright side after Sunday’s devastating loss to Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium.

On the game’s final play, linebacker Leo Chental broke through on the left side of Denver’s line and blocked a 35-yard field-goal attempt by Wil Lutz to preserve a 16-14 win at Arrowhead Stadium and remain undefeated at 9-0.

“If you’re hanging your head at this point of the season, I don’t think you belong in this league,’’ said tackle Mike McGlinchey. “We’re 5-5. We’re right in the thick of it. And we kind of control our own destiny as this goes out. We have an opportunity to go and win a lot of football games with a lot of season left.”

The Broncos remain No. 7 in the AFC playoff race, and seven teams will make it. They have a one-game lead over both Indianapolis (4-6) and Cincinnati (4-6) and play the Colts at home Dec. 15 and the Bengals on the road Dec. 28 or 29.

“I believe this is a playoff team in this conference and we got to go prove that week in and week out,’’ McGlinchey said.

Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II said the loss will be “hard to really forget.” Still, he said they have to do just that entering next Sunday’s game against Atlanta (6-4) at Empower Field at Mile High.

“Obviously, it’s a tough loss,’’ Surtain said. “I think we played a heck of a game on both sides of the ball. We fought. We battled. Sometimes the result doesn’t end up in your favor. But at the end of the day, we still got stuff we can work out. It’s a long season ahead and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”

The Broncos bounced back from an ugly 41-10 loss at Baltimore on Nov. 3, but Surtain said Sunday’s defeat to the two-time defending champions was “more painful obviously.” That was readily apparent when head coach Sean Payton addressed the team after the game.

“Everyone knows Sean has been around this league for a while,’’ running back Audric Estime said of Payton, in his 17th season as a head coach. “He has a lot of wins, and he also has some tough losses. He said this is one of the toughest losses he’s played in.”

Some Denver players fought back tears. Defensive tackle Malcolm Roach was distraught after the game, but still addressed the media.

“We got to come back to work Monday morning and get ready to go to work and be better,’’ Roach said. “We don’t want to put ourselves in this predicament (again). … When you’re playing champs, you got to take it because they always believe they can win at the end of the day. … They just made one more play than us. … We got to give this city (of Denver) something to be proud of and we got to get the job done.”

After being pushed around by the Ravens, Denver’s defense returned to the form it has had for most of the season. The Chiefs had 300 yards of total offense, nearly 50 less than their average coming in, and their 16 points were nearly 10 less than their average.

“They moved the ball, but we held them to (mostly) field goals,’’ Payton said.

The Chiefs got three field goals from Harrison Butker and their only touchdown came on a 2-yard pass from star quarterback Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce on fourth-and goal late in the first half to cut a 14-3 deficit to 14-10. But Mahomes, who completed 28 of 42 passes for 266 yards, was under pressure all afternoon and was sacked four times.

In the end, it still wasn’t good enough for Denver to get a win. Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper said he was experiencing “a lot of hurt” but remained confident about the Broncos being able to soon bounce back.

“It’s on all of us,” he said. “We have to take it head on and come together. … We can’t point fingers. … It’s tough to do but I know we’ve got the right guys who can do it.”