DENVER — Sure, the Broncos got a couple lucky breaks.
But if the mistake-prone Indianapolis Colts were going to gift-wrap Denver a playoff spot before its raucous, sellout home crowd, the Broncos weren’t going to turn it down, not after going eight seasons without.
Think the Chiefs are apologizing for their 13-1 record? Good teams capitalize.
And the Broncos are about to become a playoff-good team after they rallied in the fourth quarter to whip the Colts going away, 31-13 on a pleasant, 55-degree, mid-December afternoon before 71,992 (4,504 no shows) at Empower Field at Mile High.
The Broncos improved to 9-5 — guaranteeing their first winning season since going 9-7 in 2016 — and have a three-game lead with three to go for an AFC playoff spot. One more win, or one more loss by Cincinnati and Miami will secure Denver its first playoff spot since 2015, when it won it all.
“You want to be in New York, Los Angeles or Las Vegas if you’re in entertainment,” said Broncos head coach Sean Payton, who has turned around the slumping team in just two years on the job. “You do not want to be in Rhode Island. If you are in this industry, you want to be somewhere where it is really important and the expectations are high. It is nice to get the 9th win. We will have some cupcakes for you guys as you leave and can go from there.”
The Broncos also moved ahead of the Los Angeles Chargers for the No. 6 AFC playoff seed. The 8-6 Chargers host the 9-5 Broncos on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Broncos have such a big lead they probably don’t have to win another game to reach the postseason but they’ll try to officially celebrate late Thursday night by clinching it with a win against the Chargers.
“It’s going to be dope, I mean I’m trying to make my first one,” said the Broncos’ suddenly incomporable pass rusher-defensive back Nick Bonitto. “A lot of guys are. We’ve got to win this next one for sure, it’s going to be a big one.”
The Colts are 6-9 and essentially eliminated from the playoffs. That devastating blocked field on the final play at Kansas City? Apparently, it wasn’t so devastating. The Broncos have gone 4-0 since, winning by a combined 69, or better than 17 points per win.
In their latest blowout win, a 60-yard punt return by Marvin Mims Jr. seconds into the fourth quarter that set up a short touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Nate Adkins, and a 50-yard defensive touchdown return two minutes later by Nik Bonitto off a receiver-thrown lateral were the difference.
Nix wasn’t his best. He had his first three interception game as a pro and only threw for 130 yards. But he also threw three touchdown passes — to tight ends Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins and favorite receiver Courtland Sutton — to outplay Colts’ quarterback Anthony Richardson for the win.
The Nix interceptions came as the Broncos were trailing and put the rookie in a rare, momentary reflection of doubt.
“It gets to where you feel like, ‘Man, is every time I throw it going to be picked?”’ Nix said. “You start having those mental thoughts. It’s challenging. It’s probably the toughest part of our position because you know what you’re capable of, … you have to keep from being gun shy. … I thought I saw the game well today but that didn’t keep me from not turning the ball over so what is it? I’ve got to get back to the sideline and I feel like the guys did a great job of keeping me encouraged, reminded me it’s a long game. Go out there do what you do.
“But I’m not going to lie. It’s tough. But the ones who can get out of it and finish the game and win, that’s when you find some maturity and find some growth. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time I’ve thrown three in a game. Hopefully, it’s the last but probably football will tell you it’s not going to be if you play it long enough. Just got to move on to the next play and get the next completion.”
It took a while for the Broncos to get going. They began their pivotal game Sunday against the Colts as if they had a bad bout of the Bye Week Blues.
It was Mims who jolted the Broncos back in the game. His 60-yard punt return a minute into the fourth quarter gave the Broncos the ball at the Indy 15 yard line. Two plays later, Nix stepped up in the pocket and hit Adkins, who rumbled into the end zone to finish off a 15-yard touchdown catch.
The Broncos had their first lead, 17-13 with 13:51 left in the fourth quarter.
Despite the playoff implications, this was a sloppily played game with the teams combining for eight turnovers — the Broncos had three, all off Nix interceptions. The biggest turnover, though, was committed by Colts’ running back Jonathan Taylor.
Taylor was galloping alone on what would have been a 41-yard touchdown in the third quarter but dropped the ball before he crossed the plane of the goal line. Instead of Indy going up 20-7, Taylor’s dropped ball went out of the end zone sideline for a touchback, Broncos ball. Not a touchdown, still 13-7.
“You go over those scenarios, but it just can’t happen,” Taylor said. “No matter the game, no matter the scenario, you could be up 50, down by 50, in a playoff game, the first game of the season. That should never happen.”
The Broncos couldn’t believe their good fortune.
“I was happy, he bailed us out with that one,” Bonitto said. “Obviously we messed up with our run defense and he was able to get there but thank God he did what he did.”
“God is good,” Broncos defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers said about the Taylor gaffe. “Mistake on his part. Good running back, made a good play, but a mistake. We all make them but shoot that one cost momentum and could have cost them the game.”
“That was significant,” Payton said of Taylor’s unforced fumble. “I don’t get it. But I’m not going to try to. That was a significant play that you go from breaking a long run for a touchdown for your team to us having the ball. There were a number of plays but that was one of them.”
It shouldn’t have been surprise the Colts hit the Broncos in the mouth a couple times early. Indy entered the game the more desperate team as a loss would have virtually eliminated from the playoffs. The Broncos, by contrast, would have still been in decent shape for the playoffs with a loss.
Still, with a tough remaining schedule, the Broncos needed a win to all but put their first AFC playoff spot away.
The Colts marched 70 yards for a touchdown on the game-opening series, converting two, third and 10s along the way. Talented (but erratic) second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson finished the first drive with a 23-yard touchdown, keeping the ball off an RPO.
On the Broncos’ first series, Nix converted two first downs – one on a third-down completion to Courtland Sutton, the other on a scramble. But then off a hurry up play, Nix was intercepted by inside linebacker Zaire Franklin on an ill-advised pass across the middle.
Richardson brought the Colts down the field again on his second series – again converting third downs via pass or Jonathan Taylor runs – before the Denver D finally stiffened on third down to force a short field goal.
“He’s a good player, I mean the dude’s big,” said Franklin-Myers who had Richardson sacked twice on one play, only to bounce off the 235-pound quarterback both times. “He’s hard to bring down but I’ve got to get him down, though, (bleep) I don’t care how big he is.”
Two plays into the second quarter, the Colts were up, 10-0.
What a nightmare start for the Broncos. The first quarter time of possession was 11 minutes, 42 seconds for Colts; 3 minutes 18 seconds for Broncos. At halftime, the Colts had 105 yards rushing while the Broncos had just 36 — 21 on Nix scrambles.
But in the second quarter, Nix bounced back with a nice series of short passes, which helped set up a play-action, 13-yard strike to wide-open tight end Adam Trautman for a touchdown. It was 10-7 with 5:29 left in the half. A long punt return by the Colts’ Anthony Gould in the final two minutes led to a 49-yard Matt Gay field goal with 6 seconds remaining.
The Colts were still leading, 13-10 entering the fourth quarter but the punt return by Mims set up the Broncos’ go-ahead touchdown pass from Nix to Adkins and then Bonitto read a cross-field flea flicker and came up with what was essentially a pick six, but was instead ruled a fumble return. Richardson threw right to Colts receiver Adonaie Mitchell, who threw it back to Richardson on a flea flicker. But it never got there.
“(Colts head coach) Shane (Steichen came over and talked to me and said, ‘If it’s not there, throw it away,” Mitchell said. “So if you look at it from my perspective, it was there pretty much until 15 (Boniitto) turned into Ed Reed, and just came through out of nowhere.”
“It was kind of a slow-developing play so I knew something was kind of weird,” Bonitto said while dressed in a multi-colored sweater in front of his locker. “The receiver usually doesn’t catch screens like that. Once I seen A.R. drifting in the back a little bit I was like, ‘Let me just try to break on in there.’ I ended up getting it.”
Bonitto received an unsportsmanlike penalty for his celebratory backward leap, fall and lower grab into the end zone. But what’s a league fine if he wins NFL Defensive Player of the Year? He might. No other defensive player is tied for second in sacks (11.0) with two defensive touchdowns.
“It still doesn’t seem real to be mentioned in that type of light,” Bonitto said. “There are three games left, so we have to take it one game at a time. We just have to keep stacking these wins.”
He became the first Denver defender since Billy Thompson in 1973 to score a defensive touchdown in back-to-back games. And Bonitto’s play will also be remembered in what will become the Broncos’ first playoff appearance since 2015.
“It’s pretty wild isn’t it?” said left Garett Bolles, the Broncos’ longest-tenured player as their 2017 first-round draft pick.
And to think this year, of all years, wasn’t supposed the one that snapped their playoff drought. The Broncos’ over/under win total set by oddsmakers was 5.5, largely because of the release of quarterback Russell Wilson and the subsequent money and dead-cap hits. “We believed in ourselves,” Bolles said. “We just have a bunch of dudes that are humble and hungry, man. We all just put our heads down and work on being great not only as individuals but as units. I feel like sky’s the limit for us.”
Star cornerback Pat Surtain picked up his fourth interception of the season in the fourth quarter but later was helped off the field with an apparent lower-leg injury. He was walking without a limp through the locker room after the game and seemed fine. “Oh yeah, I’m good,” he said. …
Right guard Quinn Meinerz left the game in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. He was replaced by Alex Palczewski. …
Running back Jaleel McLaughlin suffered a quad injury late in the third quarter and didn’t return. …
Sutton finished the scoring for Denver by catching a 20-yard touchdown from Nix with 5:48 remaining. The TD came two plays after Payton accepted a penalty that wiped out a Wil Lutz field goal but kept the drive and the clock moving. …
To the fans sitting in one of the upper-deck sections, you saw it as well as Sean Payton and Vance Joseph did. Veteran cornerback Levi Wallace had a tough game two weeks ago against the Cleveland Browns.
Wallace went from Monday night starter to inactive for the Broncos’ next game against the Colts. Rookie Kris Abrams-Draine and veteran Damarri Mathis shared responsibility for the cornerback position vacated by the knee injury to Riley Moss, who missed his second straight game. Abrams-Draine got his first NFL start. …
Drew Sanders, the Broncos’ third-round draft pick in 2023, was active for his first game of 2024. Sanders had been sidelined since suffering a torn Achilles soon after the start of the Broncos’ offseason program in April. With the backup outside linebacker active, the Broncos did not dress rookie inside linebacker Levelle Bailey. The move figured to have been at least partially related to special teams. Sanders is bigger at 6-foot-5, 235 pounds and runs well for his size.
