The Denver Broncos defeated the Los Angeles Chargers to improve to 14-3 on the year and have officially clinched the number one seed in the AFC and, more importantly, have homefield advantage throughout
the playoffs.
Playoff football and the road to the Super Bowl will go through Mile High.
As for the game, it wasn’t the prettiest contest. The Broncos’ offense did not play well, and it appeared they had a very simple and vanilla gameplan for this one. Still, they did not play well, but I expect a better effort from this team in two weeks. As for the defense, they dominated this game and held the Chargers’ backups to just 3 points.
However, the only thing that matters is getting the win, and they did just that tonight. With all that said, here are your winners and losers from the Denver Broncos 19-3 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers
WINNER – ONE SEED IN THE AFC
THE DENVER BRONCOS ARE THE ONE SEED IN THE AFC AND HAVE HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE THROUGHOUT THE PLAYOFFS.
That’s the only thing that matters from this game.
WINNER – Broncos Defense
Yes, the Chargers rested most of their starters, including Justin Herbert, Omarion Hampton, and others, but the Broncos’ defense still dominated this game.
They held the Chargers to 217 total yards, 104 yards passing, had 4 sacks, and forced 2 turnovers, which was a point of emphasis from Sean Payton this week. The Chargers were never really in this game, despite the offensive struggles, and the Broncos’ defense carried this team to the one seed.
The competition will be MUCH more difficult moving forward, but this was a strong way to end the year for the Broncos’ defense.
LOSER – Broncos Offense
That was not pretty, but I am not overly concerned.
It was clear from the start that Sean Payton was not showing anything in this game. He wanted to run the ball down their throat and just have Nix do basic stuff in the passing game. We saw a lot of screens, dump-offs, and runs, and very few complex plays. They could face the Chargers in two weeks and did not want to put too much on tape for them.
On top of that, he had confidence in his defense to hold Trey Lance and the Chargers’ backups in check. They did just that, but the Broncos’ offense struggles stood out.
Bo Nix struggled to do much of anything, but was constantly under pressure throughout this game. He did miss a few passes, but overall, I am not too worried about his performance.
One thing I am concerned about is rookie RJ Harvey. He struggled to get anything going on the ground and averaged just 1.9 yards per carry and was outplayed by Jaleel McLaughlin, who averaged an impressive 6.1 yards per carry. The Broncos will need more from Harvey moving forward, even if JK Dobbins is able to return at somepoint.
Another area of concern is the pass protection. The Chargers were resting all their top defensive players and were still able to get after Nix all game. He was sacked 4 times, which seems like a career high for him since joining the Broncos. Nix just doesn’t get sacked much at all. So, this was a concerning development.
Next time out, I expect (and hope) for a more complex gameplan and hopefully, a better effort from the offensive line and the run game. The offensive line has been good all year, so hopefully, they just had an off game, but the run game remains a concern.
They need to be better for sure, but I think gameplanned a very vanilla offense for this game.
WINNER – Ja’Quan McMillian
The only touchdown in this game came on the defensive side of the ball when Broncos corner Ja’Quan McMillian got the interception off a deflection and ran it into the end zone to make it a 10-0 game. The Broncos would never look back from this and go on to win 19-3.
McMillian looked to be in hot water after the Broncos selected Jahdae Barron in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but he held off the rookie and had himself another good season for the Broncos. His pick-six ended up being the game-changing score, which helped the Broncos clinch the one seed in the playoffs.
Other Winners and Losers
- WINNER – LB Justin Strnad: Strnad started in place of LB Dre Greenlaw and played very well. He had multiple big tackles, a big sack, and a key pass deflection in this game. The special teams ace has turned into a valuable member of this defense and played well in place of the injured Dre Grennlaw.
- WINNER – RB Jaleel McLaughlin: I mentioned him earlier, but he was the Broncos’ best offensive player today. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry and had 58 total yards on 7 touches.
- WINNER – K Wil Lutz: Outside of the pick 6, kicker Wil Lutz was responsible for 13 of the 19 Broncos points.
- LOSER – Broncos WRs: Rookie Pat Bryant led the way with 4 receptions for 31 yards, but outside of that, we saw little from this group of players. Gameplan likely had a lot to do with that, but Sutton had 2 targets and 1 catch, Mims had 3 targets and 2 catches for 10 yards, and Troy Franklin had 1 target and 0 catches. They need more production from this unit.
- WINNER – EDGE Nik Bonitto: He finished the game with 1.5 sacks and frankly should have had at least 3 in this game. He had Trey Lance wrapped up, but he was shrugged off and later just missed a sack as Lance avoided him in the pocket before taking off on a long run. This was probably Bonitto’s best game since the BYE.
- WINNER – CB Pat Surtain II: He had a big hit stick on 4th down, and it was just a nice play by the reigning DPOY. He was his typical dominant self in coverage.
- LOSER – Broncos OL: The Broncos’ pass blocking has been really good all season, but man, they really struggled tonight. Hopefully, this is just a one-game thing because these struggles could lead to a disappointing one-and-done for them in the playoffs.
