Broncos’ Bradley Chubb at full strength heading into showdown at Chiefs: “I knew I had to get back to make this playoff push.”

With the Broncos in the thick of the playoff race, Bradley Chubb is back at full strength just as the team needs him most. And that timing is not lost on the outside linebacker heading into the primetime showdown Sunday in Kansas City, with the divisional lead up for grabs.

“Being the position that we were in (when I got hurt), I knew I had to get back to make this playoff push,” Chubb said.

Chubb played 42.3% of Denver’s defensive snaps in Sunday’s win over the Chargers, his first full game of action after his season debut in Week 2 in Jacksonville was cut short after 19 snaps due to a left ankle injury. A few days later, Chubb had arthroscopic surgery on his ankle to remove a bone spur, the same issue he had surgically corrected in his right ankle this past offseason.

“My ankle feels amazing (after Sunday’s game), so I couldn’t be more ready for the upcoming week,” Chubb said Monday. “(Along with the trainers) we’ll go out there during practice and manage it and see how it feels throughout the week, then hopefully Sunday it will be a full workload.”

Chubb’s ready to make a bigger impact. He didn’t register a tackle Sunday, but did have a pass-rush pressure in the 28-13 victory over Los Angeles.

Chubb made the Pro Bowl with 7 1/2 sacks in 14 games last year but sat out the final two games with his right ankle injury. He tried to battle through the pain in his offseason training but ultimately had bone spurs surgically removed in May. That kept Chubb out of most of the offseason program, then he injured his left ankle in practice ahead of the Aug. 28 preseason finale. He tried to push through that injury as well, but to no avail.

“To have the same thing happen to the other ankle was frustrating, but I kept my head down and I kept working,” Chubb said. “(That made rehabilitation) fun, because everyone’s rallying behind me and I’m rallying behind everybody else.”

There were a flurry of changes at outside linebacker while Chubb was sidelined. General manager George Paton signed Aaron Patrick off the Jaguars’ practice squad Sept. 23, one day after Chubb’s surgery. Then, the Broncos made a deal with the Vikings for Stephen Weatherly on Oct. 23 and, in a blockbuster trade at the deadline, dealt Von Miller to the Rams in exchange for a pair of 2022 draft picks. As a result, backup Malik Reed moved into a starting role.

Chubb called the Miller trade, which occurred Nov. 1, “a kick in the butt” for himself and his teammates.

“Von did so many great things here, won the Super Bowl MVP, getting (double-digit) sacks consistently,” Chubb explained. “We might have had some guys around here who got a little comfortable, but when you see a guy like Von Miller get traded, you’re like, ‘Oh, we can really trade anybody around here.’.. We’ve all got to kick it up a notch, and the team took that message (to heart).”

Looking ahead to Sunday night, coach Vic Fangio hopes that No. 55 “makes big strides this week” in order to help slow Kansas City’s explosive offense. Chubb’s last sack came a year ago Monday, in Denver’s 31-3 loss to New Orleans at Empower Field. He knows Denver’s defense needs to make life tough on Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“Getting after Mahomes is key,” Chubb said. “The offense revolves around No. 15… We’ve got to affect him and get him off his spot and make him change his arm angle and stuff like that, trying to make him as uncomfortable as we can.”

The Chiefs have defeated the Broncos 11 consecutive times.

“We haven’t beat them in a while, and that hatred runs deep, and when we do get over that hump everybody’s going to be rejoicing and moving on to the next one,” Chubb said. “That’s what we’ve got to do — knock this one out, and keep moving forward.”