Initial thoughts from the Broncos’ 23-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 5 at SoFi Stadium:

1. Was Bo Nix the problem all along?: The more things change, the more Bo stays the same. Accept our apologies, Davis Webb. Please. A win is a win is a win, granted. Yet with Sean Payton taking the play sheet back, the overall output wasn’t much better than Weeks 1-4. The first drive was a noticeable improvement — two first downs, which were the first on an opening drive all season. But it only amounted to 29 yards in eight plays and ended with a punt.  The Broncos produced seven points over the game’s first 9 minutes. They scored 16 points the rest of the way. This offense still hasn’t shown it can confidently drive the length of the field in a non-2-minute scenario. Of the Broncos’ first 37 plays, only two went longer than 10 yards. Moving the pocket with Nix in the fourth quarter helped, granted. But No. 10 is still missing guys open over the middle of the field and, at one point, drifted into a sack he’s avoided 99% of his NFL career. If you’re a little frightened to imagine what Seattle might have cooking for Nix and Payton on Thursday night, join the club.

2. No Hufanga, no problem: For most of the afternoon, it was hard to tell which team came in 2-2 thanks to one of the hardest schedules in the league and which one was 0-4 thanks to all kinds of injuries (that last one was the Chargers, but you knew that). The Broncos’ third quarter, in particular, was a mess of missed tackles, missed kicks and mishandled footballs. But the loss of safety Talanoa Hufanga late in the third quarter was felt almost immediately as Chargers tailback Kimani Vidal found a seam on the left side of the field and appeared to break at least five Broncos tackles on a rumbling, stumbling 42-yard touchdown. To Vance Joseph’s credit, the Broncos’ D responded, thanks to two fourth-quarter takeaways that are going to leave Jim Harbaugh sleepless for days. Zach Allen forced a Justin Herbert fumble, and safety Brandon Jones made a too-easy interception, effectively sealing an ugly win.

3. Finding Sutton late helped: Sean Payton’s play-calling sheet had an obvious blind spot early on that even his reading glasses rarely saw: Courtland Sutton’s No. 14 jersey. Through the afternoon’s first two-and-a-half quarters, Sutton wasn’t just without a catch. The Broncos’ 1/1A wideout was without so much as a single target. The 31-year-old veteran had averaged 5.5 targets through the Broncos’ opening four games. Maybe it’s a Bolts thing, over Sutton’s previous 30 appearances, the former SMU star had seen two or fewer targets in a game only once before, and that was in the Broncos’ 19-3 victory over the Bolts in Denver in January 2026. In the nine games before Sunday in which Sutton caught two or fewer, the Broncos went 5-4.

4. Chargers’ youth served Broncos well early: The Broncos’ tackling, at least in the first half, appeared noticeably better than at any point of the previous four weekends. So — was it them, or was it the competition? Four of the Bolts’ five offensive line starters were rookies. The Broncos took advantage early, as they should’ve. The hosts managed only 74 yards of offense on 24 plays in the first half, running the ball for just 32 yards on 13 carries (2.5 yards per attempt). The Bolts also managed almost three times as many penalty yards going into the break (58) as the Broncos did after two quarters (20). For a Denver defense missing both starting cornerbacks and seeking its old mojo again, embattled Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel might have offered the perfect antidote at the outset.

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