Renck: 2015 Broncos showed how to make Arrowhead Stadium “go silent.” What can Bo Nix, current team learn from it?

Then cornerback Aqib Talib delivered his latest pivotal interception, baiting Smith on an outside route to Jeremy Maclin. It set up a 1-yard jump pass touchdown to tight end Virgil Green. The Broncos were back in business.

“We felt like we could win every game. We had playmakers on offense and defense,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. “Our mindset on defense was to score. You saw it in our secondary. Or just get it right back to Peyton. He might have struggled, but he was still Peyton.”

Nix was 14 years old when the Broncos last won in Kansas City. His attitude about this game and appreciation for its history are refreshing. He seemed to channel Manning this week when he said playing keep away from Mahomes is not the key.

“We have to score points against a team like this and get a lead because in one-score games they have been known to come back,” said Nix, understanding field goals are not beating the undefeated Chiefs. “That’s what makes them a championship team.”

The 2015 Broncos provided the blueprint. They went 9-3 in one-score games and 5-2 in those decided by a field goal or less. This is where a slow heartbeat matters.

Even while getting clobbered early, the Broncos’ knees never wobbled. The defense remained angry, producing three takeaways in the red zone, matching their 2014 season total.

“It was a special group. They were consistent,” defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said. “You have to stay together. You get into a rut in a season, a game and don’t reach your potential because you start pointing fingers at the other side of the ball. We played as a team.”

When the Broncos responded during the 2015 season, many opponents wilted. But the Chiefs were built on motivation and vengeance, exhausted by a six-game losing streak to the Broncos. Against what would be viewed as a historically great defense, the Chiefs drove 61 yards in six plays to take a seven-point lead with 2:27 remaining.

It was a measure of how good the Broncos were that they did not require Manning to be perfect. But with the fire alarms blaring, they needed his finest hour.

“I remember when we took over the ball to begin the fourth quarter and Peyton had such intensity and enthusiasm,” Ryan Harris said. “Those of us in the huddle believed we were going to win the game. You just knew Peyton was going to make plays. And he was so calm on that last drive.”

Manning dissected the Chiefs like a surgeon. He finally capitalized on single-high coverage — the type of recognition triggered by his film study and photographic memory — and connected with Sanders for a 19-yard touchdown. Manning has forever said that clutch drives start with a big completion.

“When we got that first one to D.T. that’s when I felt like we had something going,” Manning said.

The Chiefs are built like those Broncos. They play their best when it matters most. Mahomes has 11 touchdowns with nine interceptions this season. But he boasts six touchdowns and one pick on third and fourth down with a 113.0 passer rating.

“A lot of times he doesn’t improvise until those spots,” Chris Harris said. “You have to put them in tougher positions on third down so you can blitz. He will give you a few chances at turnovers.”

The Broncos understand they can win a rock fight with the Chiefs — a path that was not available against the explosive Ravens. But it will not work without taking risks.

“There are so many things to distract you there at that stadium. No. 1 is the sheer amount of people. No 2 is that you are smelling barbecue everywhere. Those linemen better eat a good meal before they get on the bus or that smell will make you hungry,” Ryan Harris said. “And remember Andy Reid is a great play-caller and one of the best coaches at using homefield advantage. He will use 3-to-4 snap counts and change the pace. That’s hard to deal with. And then you throw in Taylor Swift probably being there.”

It’s a lot, especially for a young team that does not have multiple players headed to Canton or veterans with Super Bowl rings. But the Broncos started to change the conversation when they handled the Chiefs last season. The Broncos manufactured some incentive after seeing Mahomes and Travis Kelce attend a Texas Rangers World Series game, wondering how seriously they were taking them if they had time for side trips before arriving in Denver.

The Broncos played with urgency, taking a 14-3 lead, holding it, and no longer looking outclassed.

But they haven’t done it in this place. In Arrowhead. In the sea of red.

“When the Broncos go there now, the Chiefs don’t respect us at all anymore. They’ve got us in a headlock. But it doesn’t have to stay that way,” Chris Harris said. “It would be huge to get a win. We did it. And all I can say is to shut that whole crowd up, to hear that stadium go silent, there is nothing like it.”