Denver wide receiver Eddie Royal (19) fumbles the ball as he is brought down by Chiefs defensive end Turk McBride. The Chiefs recovered and claimed a 33-19 victory Sunday in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. ? It didn’t seem like 11 months to Brian Waters since Kansas City’s last victory.

“It seemed like 10 years,” said the veteran left guard, grinning ear-to-ear. “It’s a sigh of relief to be able to have a little bit of joy in your life.”

Larry Johnson, two weeks after complaining that he was being phased out, ran for 198 yards and two touchdowns to lead the previously winless Chiefs past the previously unbeaten Broncos, 33-19, Sunday, snapping a franchise-record 12-game losing streak.

“It’s like getting the whole world off your back,” said rookie cornerback Brandon Flowers, whose 37-yard fumble return set up Johnson’s one-yard TD run. “Twelve games, that’s real tough.”

The Chiefs had not won since Oct. 21, 2007. Until Nick Novak kicked the first of his three field goals in the first quarter, they hadn’t even held a lead since halftime against Tennessee on Dec. 16 – a span of 22 quarters.

“It was ridiculous,” safety Jarrad Page said. “Coming in here after that game was one of the best feelings I’ve had in the NFL.”

The Broncos (3-1) put up numbers befitting the highest-scoring team in the league. Jay Cutler threw for 361 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown to Brandon Marshall.

But he also was intercepted twice, and the Broncos gave up two fumbles.

“Bad decisions,” Cutler said. “You can’t have four turnovers offensively and score a lot of points. You know there’s a lot of football left. We’re still a good football team and we can’t go into a panic here.”

Johnson got the Chiefs off and running with a 65-yard run on their first possession.

“I think it helped everybody as far as everybody being explosive and everybody understanding that we could run the ball,” said Johnson, who has 319 yards rushing the past two games.

“When they came in, everybody was like, ‘Oh, they’re 3-0. The Broncos are beating good teams,”‘ Johnson said. “When that run happened, I think everyone opened their eyes and said, ‘We can move the ball on this team.”‘

The Chiefs did not seem to be out of danger until Tony Gonzalez snared a 10-yard touchdown pass that made it 23-13 with 12:40 to go.