Stick here for live updates and analysis as Denver takes on the Jaguars at Empower Field at Mile High.

FINAL | Jaguars 34, Broncos 20

Broncos’ 11-game winning streak snapped by Jaguars, AFC playoff race tightens

The Broncos’ 11-game winning streak is at an end.

Down 17 in the fourth quarter, Denver couldn’t conjure up another late-game comeback, losing 34-20 to the visiting Jaguars at Empower Field at Mile High.

Bo Nix was 28 of 47 for 353 yards, a touchdown and a bad interception in the final quarter. Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdowns for Jacksonville and added another on the ground.

Next up: At Kansas City Chiefs at 6:15 p.m. on Christmas.

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Live updates
Fourth-quarter updates

Huge hit (5:17 p.m.): Wow, Pat Bryant took a nasty hit. He went up to catch a pass and was absolutely crushed by Montaric Brown. No penalty on the hit. A lot of players on one knee as the trainers attend to the receiver. — Nguyen

Just when we think we’ve run out of levels of terrible for the Broncos in this game, we get … this. Geez. — Keeler

Punting (5:14 p.m.): The Broncos will get another shot on offense. It’s not over, but it’s not looking good. A quick touchdown and a successful onside kick and it’ll be interesting. Denver has 1:38 left and starting inside its own 5. — Nguyen

It’s never (5:11 p.m.): Barring an absolute meltdown, Jacksonville has this game won. — Nguyen

Fourth down (5:05 p.m.): Fourth-and-3. It’s now or never for Denver.

Er… fourth-and-11 after Bo Nix stepped out of bounds. — Nguyen

In Sutton, we trust (5:03 p.m.): Back-to-back first-down passes to Courtland Sutton. — Nguyen

Sacked (4:57 p.m.): Fifth sack for the Broncos. It was for 0 yards, made by D.J. Jones. — Nguyen

Scrambling (4:56 p.m.): Trevor Lawrence scrambles for first down. That might be it. Quickly approaching 5 minutes remaining. Broncos have not been able to produce takeaway today. — Renck

Picked (4:53 p.m.): Disastrous throw by Bo Nix. He was targeting Pat Bryant, who was covered by Jarrian Jones. The pass went straight to the defender’s hands. — Nguyen

On fourth-and-3 from Jaguars’ 42-yard line, Broncos’ luck appears to have run out. Bo Nix stared down Pat Bryant — he had Evan Engram wide open on right side on stick route — and threw easy pick to Jarrian Jones. — Renck

Huge gain (4:50 p.m.): Catch-and-run by RJ Harvey for a 32-yard gain. — Nguyen

Sacked (4:46 p.m.): John Franklin-Myers with his second sack of the day. It’s the Broncos’ fourth of the day. That’s 62 on the year. More importantly, it’s a three-and-out and the offense gets another shot.  — Nguyen

Packers went for the kill shot last week and it backfired mightily.

Jaguars led by as many 17 rather than 9 last week, but that drive (three plays, 1:16 off the clock) left the door cracked open with 9:28 to go.

Broncos trail 34-20. — Gabriel

Field goal, Broncos (4:41 p.m.): Broncos settle for a 21-yard Wil Lutz field goal. Seven plays for 65 yards on the drive. Jaguars 34, Broncos 20 with 10:44 to go in the fourth. — Nguyen

Broncos take field goal. Not popular decision from 3-yard line with 10:47 left. But it brings you to back within two scores. Don’t get it on fourth down there and game is really over. So Denver trails 34-20 with 10:44 remaining. Have to get stop. The missed field goal plays into. If it was already 34-20. you go for the TD, IMO. — Renck

Big-time receiver (4:40 p.m.): Parker Washington’s 145 receiving yards are the most Broncos have given up to a player this year.

Only two other 100-yard receivers:

DeVonta Smith: 8-114 in Week 5
Zach Ertz: 10-106 in Week 13

— Gabriel

Nix to Franklin (4:38 p.m.): It worked! Bo Nix finds Troy Franklin deep for a 48-yard gain. Broncos are at the Jacksonville 9. — Nguyen

Deflection (4:34 p.m.): Not blocking D.J. Jones is a … choice. The Broncos defensive tackle ran in unabated and Riley Moss deflected the pass in the end zone. Jacksonville settles for a field goal. Jaguars 37, Broncos 17 with 13:36 to go in the fourth quarter. — Nguyen

TFL (4:32 p.m.): Que Robinson tackles Trevor Lawrence for a loss on the opening play of the fourth quarter. — Nguyen

Third-quarter thoughts — Jaguars 31, Broncos 17

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: The Broncos have been due for a stinker and a wake-up call for — what, months now? And here it is. Up side: At least you’re not the Texans.

Third-quarter updates

Broken tackle (4:28 p.m.): Is Parker Washington just covered in grease? Riley Moss, who’s typically great at tackling, just slips right off him. — Nguyen

Fumbled (4:25 p.m.): The Broncos are struggling. Denver loses the fumble on the Bo Nix-Jaleel McLaughlin screen. — Nguyen

Touchdown, Jaguars (4:18 p.m.): Lawrence to Travis Etienne for a 10-yard touchdown. Four yards, 80 yards on the drive. Jaguars 31, Broncos 17 with 3:56 to go in the third quarter. Denver needs to answer on offense. — Nguyen

When schedule came out, we wanted to see Travis Hunter with the Jags. His season was a bust because of injury. But Parker Washington is putting on a show today. He has 5 catches for 121 yards. Etienne’s TD makes it 31-17 with 3:56 left in third. Broncos have only won once this season when allowing 30-plus points. That was against Giants. — Renck

Huge gain (4:17 p.m.): Apparently, the Broncos have replaced Vance Joseph with Benny Hill at DC. — Keeler

Trevor Lawrence finds Parker Washington for a 63-yard catch-and-run. — Nguyen

Nearly amazing (4:13 p.m.): Man, Jeremy Crawshaw came within a couple of inches of a perfect punt. But it hit on the goal line and came back into play.

Touchback instead of being downed inside the 5. Lotta ballgame left in this one, but feels like an important drive for Vance Joseph’s group. — Gabriel

Out of sync (4:13 p.m.): Broncos are out of sync. Bo Nix overthrows Tyler Badie on third-and-14 checkdown.

This one’s in danger of slipping away. — Evans

Touchdown, Jaguars (4:05 p.m.): After a pass interference call on Jahdae Barron in the end zone, Trevor Lawrence scrambles in for an easy 1-yard run. Nine plays for 75 yards on the drive. Jaguars 24, Broncos 17 with 7:44 to go in the third quarter. — Nguyen

Brutal call on Jahdae Barron, puts ball at 1-yard line and Trevor Lawrence walks in for the score. The two most penalized teams in NFL starting to feel wrath of refs. “Refs You Suck!” chant reverberates through stadium. Buckle up. Jags lead Broncos 24-17 with 7:44 left in the third quarter. Two huge penalties. 15-yarder on Roach and 11 yards to the 1-yard on Barron. — Renck

Great, competitive game between two really good teams. The officiating, on the other hand… — Gabriel

Well no playing the make-up game (4:03 p.m.): Broncos benefited from roughing call. And Jaguars get roughing call on Malcolm Roach for using his body weight. The league office has said in past that defenders need to alligator roll the QB. But that defies physics when chugging at full speed. And looked like play clock hit zero on that Jags’ converted first down. Nobody enjoys a ref show. Other than refs, perhaps. — Renck

Penalty (3:59 p.m.): Malcolm Roach gets dinged with the bodyweight personal foul after hitting Trevor Lawrence. The crowd doesn’t like it. — Nguyen

Jordan. Turner. (3:57 p.m.): Big hit to stop that kickoff run by the Broncos rookie. — Nguyen

RJ Harvey (3:52 p.m.): Rookie running back RJ Harvey could not be taken down on that run. He rumbles his way to a 38-yard touchdown to cap that four-play, 73-yard drive. Broncos 17, Jaguars 17 with 13:01 to go in the third quarter. — Nguyen

RJ Harvey, a human pinball, goes tilt on Jaguars’ nasty rush defense. Bounces off tackle, and beats the defenders to pylon with a dive for 38-yard score. His best run of the season. Former Ralston Valley High/Wyoming star Andrew Wingard couldn’t wrap up Harvey, leading to the big run. — Renck

Jags scored a touchdown right after the personal foul on P.J. Locke where he didn’t appear to hear the whistle.

Broncos score a TD right after a questionable-at-best personal foul on Antonio Johnson. — Gabriel

Another penalty (3:51 p.m.): Jacksonville gets nailed with an unnecessary roughness call. Denver’s driving. — Nguyen

Penalty (3:49 p.m.): A defensive holding call on Jacksonville gives Denver a first down. — Nguyen

Halftime thoughts — Jaguars 17, Broncos 10

Parker Gabriel, beat writer: Interesting sequence late in the half: Payton played the field position game and punted on fourth-and-4 from the Jacksonville 46 with 1:55 left in the half. But then got aggressive and took a timeout after a 5-yard rush on the first play of the Jags’ drive. Liam Coen and Trevor Lawrence kicked it into gear from there, passed on six of the next seven plays and set up a Cam Little FG to extend Jacksonville’s lead to 17-10.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: Someone was caught saying an obscenity regarding a female pooch into one of the ref’s hot microphones as they left field. I’ll second that sentiment. Watching Lawrence work answers the question of what it must be like defending Nix when No. 10 is feeling it. Which means it’s on Nix and Payton to start answering.

Second-quarter updates

Field goal, Jaguars (3:33 p.m.): Cam Little nails the 47-yard field goal. Jaguars 17, Broncos 10 as time expires. — Nguyen

Injury alert (3:18 p.m.): Jonah Elliss is heading into the blue tent after the kickoff. He was pointing to his knee on the broadcast. Delarrin Turner-Yell is still on the ground. — Nguyen

Touchdown, Jaguars (3:14 p.m.): Trevor Lawrence finds Brenton Strange for a 3-yard touchdown pass. Eight plays for 59 yards on the drive. Jaguars 14, Broncos 10 with 4:33 to go in the first half. — Nguyen

Opposing offenses have gotten increasingly comfortable the last month trying to isolate TEs/RBs on Broncos linebackers/safeties.

Two big plays by Brenton Strange on that drive, perfect ball from Trevor Lawrence and Strange hauls in a 3-yard TD by boxing out PJ Locke. — Evans

Etienne (3:13 p.m.): Travis Etienne was the best player on field when Broncos played Jags in London in 2022. He is showing why again today. But Broncos tackling has not been great on this drive, either. — Renck

Relief snap (3:13 p.m.): Devon Key got a relief snap there for Hufanga on this Jacksonville drive. Something to watch going forward. — Gabriel

“Harry Potter” (3:08 p.m.): Broncos third-and-2 run went nowhere there but if you’re looking for a silver lining, sounded like Bo Nix had a “Harry Potter” check at the line of scrimmage. — Gabriel

Field goal, Broncos (3:05 p.m.): RE-DEMP-TION! — Keeler

Wil Lutz nails a 54-yard field to cap the five-play, 32-yard drive. Broncos 10, Jaguars 7 with 9:10 to go in the second quarter. — Nguyen

Lou Holtz, er, Wil Lutz back on track. Broncos lead 10-7. You don’t want to make this a field goal game if Broncos. Cameron Little was booming from 73 yards in pregame. — Renck

Big gain (3:02 p.m.): Big 26-yard gain by the Broncos after Bo Nix finds Marvin Mims Jr. — Nguyen

Sacked (2:58 p.m.): Malcolm Roach with the 11-yard sack on Trevor Lawrence. That’s three on the day for Denver and 61 on the season for the Broncos. — Nguyen

Malcolm Roach with swim move on guard and crushes Trevor Lawrence. That is three sacks on the day, and 61 sack this season. — Renck

Jags’ kicking game is a weapon. Jags’ pocket is … vulnerable. — Keeler

Touchdown, Broncos (2:52 p.m.): Pretty floater from his back foot by Bo Nix to Courtland Sutton for a 15-yard touchdown. Five plays for 65 yards on the drive. Broncos 7, Jaguars 7 with 12:46 to go in the second quarter. — Nguyen

Remember when (2:49 p.m.): Gettin’ some vintage 2019 Bolles today. That’s … not good. — Keeler

Nifty moves (2:48 p.m.): Bo Nix with a designed run to the left for a 12-yard gain. — Nguyen

First-quarter thoughts — Jaguars 7, Broncos 0

Parker Gabriel, beat writer: Lotta ballgame left, but this has just a bit of a strange feeling to it so far.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: How massive was that Locke call? The Packers were 1-for-4 on TDs in the red zone last week. The Jags are already 1-1. Green Bay committed 10 penalties. The Jags have yet to be flagged. Offense needs a response here — not another field-goal attempt off the uprights.

Troy Renck, sports columnist: These two teams get penalized more than anyone in the NFL. And the penalty on Locke hurt. Broncos will be challenged all day when Trevor Lawrence extends plays. Bo Nix needs to match him. But two early drops hurt.

First-quarter updates

Big play (2:45 p.m.): Bo Nix finds Evan Engram for a 33-yard gain to close the quarter. — Nguyen

Touchdown, Jaguars (2:42 p.m.): Trevor Lawrence threads the needle and connects with Parker Washington for a 12-yard touchdown. Jaguars 7, Broncos 0 with seven seconds to go in the first quarter. Ten plays for 66 yards on the drive. — Nguyen

Trevor Lawrence fade-ball to Parker Washington on 3rd down. TD. 12 yards. Ja’Quan McMillian in terrific coverage, just better throw-and-catch.

That P.J. Locke third-down unnecessary-roughness call was a massive swing. 7-0 Jaguars. — Evans

Jaguars have made decision to go after nickel corner Ja’Quan McMillian. And they have had success on two big pass plays so far. — Renck

Guy named Parker was working at a coffee shop I stopped at yesterday. Parker with the first TD of the day today.

We are everywhere. — Gabriel

It’s loud (2:37 p.m.): No way P.J. Locke heard that whistle. No way. — Keeler

P.J. Locke crushes Trevor Lawrence with sack. But it is ruled unnecessary roughness because Locke’s play came after whistle. That is a tough call. Jags have ball at 29-yard line. Lawrence stopped. But nobody else did. But man that was a big hit. — Renck

No good (2:32 p.m.): Denver fails to strike first as Wil Lutz clanks the right upright on the 44-yard try. Broncos 0, Jaguars 0 with 5:11 to go in the first quarter. — Nguyen

An early DOINK from Wil Lutz. This game has a bit of a weird vibe to start. — Gabriel

Line drive off the right upright. Momentum stalls. D needs to pick the rope up off the floor. — Keeler

Wil Lutz’s drills right upright on 44-yarder. Drive goes without reward. Game still scoreless in first quarter. Lutz is now 20-for-24 on the season. — Renck

Sutton (2:27 p.m.): Bo Nix read Jaguars’ Andrew Wingard creeping up for safety blitz, called it out there, Wingard dropped back. Then Nix hit Courtland Sutton for 17.

Nix to Sutton for first again next play.

Nix just seeing the field/reading defenses at a really high level right now. — Evans

The only thing more fun than watching Jaleel McLaughlin in the open field is watching Courtland Sutton on a heater. — Keeler

Courtland Sutton back-to-back: Toe tap on the sideline for 17, then boxes out Greg Newsome for 14 more.

Impressive sequence. — Gabriel

Courtland Sutton has joined the groupchat. Couple of pro throws by Bo Nix to move the sticks into field goal range. — Renck

Challenge upheld (2:26 p.m.): Confirmed to be a first down. Jacksonville loses a timeout. — Nguyen

Challenge (2:23 p.m.): Jacksonville’s challenging the spot on the Broncos’ first-down run. — Nguyen

Record pace? (2:22 p.m.): Trevor Lawrence hasn’t been sacked a ton this year overall but he took 7 each against the Rams and Seahawks and five against Houston. Broncos have two already on two drives and 60 for the year. They can put the Bears’ 1985 mark of 72 back in play today with a big, crooked number. — Gabriel

Another nice run (2:22 p.m.): Jaleel McLaughlin with a 9-yard run on his second carry. Let’s see what he can do today. — Nguyen

Big run (2:20 p.m.): Jaleel McLaughlin had a nice 16-yard run to open the drive that nearly broke for a whole lot more. — Nguyen

Sacked (2:17 p.m.): John Franklin-Myers takes Trevor Lawrence down for a 2-yard loss. That’s 60 sacks on the season for the Broncos if you’re keeping count. — Nguyen

That is two sacks on first two drives for Broncos if you are counting at home. Looks like all-time single sack record is back in play for Denver. — Renck

Pressure (2:12 p.m.): After not touching Jordan Love for what felt like a half last week, the Broncos’ D made Trevor Lawrence feel it on the Jags’ opening drive. Although the less said about those last three Broncos plays on offense, the better. — Keeler

O-line (2:08 p.m.): Alex Palczewski is indeed up first at LG for Denver. — Gabriel

Sacked (2:08 p.m.): Three-and-out for the Broncos defense. Riley Moss sacks a scrambling Trevor Lawrence on third-and-4 for a 1-yard loss. — Nguyen

Riley Moss posted a sack and had two tackles that looked like he was auditioning for PRCA rodeo steer wrestling job. — Renck

Coin toss (2:05 p.m.): Broncos win the coin toss and elect to kick. — Nguyen

Pre-game updates

O-line (1:34 p.m.): Notable: Alex Palczewski is still at left guard with the first team in Broncos warm-ups.

Seems he could start today, with Ben Powers rotating in in his return off injured reserve. — Evans

High stakes (12:45 p.m.): This game has huge stakes for Broncos as they chase AFC’s No. 1 seed. But definitely doesn’t have the same juice. When they played Packers, it felt like a playoff game because of all the Green Bay fans at game. I saw about a dozen with Jags jerseys today. — Renck

Record book (12:43 p.m.): Bo Nix has a chance at making some moves up the Broncos’ franchise rankings today. He (7,031 career yards passing) needs 238 yards passing to pass Charley Johnson into ninth place. He (52 touchdown passes) also needs one to pass Johnson for sole possession of seventh place in touchdown passes and two to tie Jay Cutler for sixth place. — Nguyen

Broncos inactives (12:36 p.m.):

ILB Justin Strnad (foot)
RB Cody Schrader
CB Reese Taylor
DL Jordan Jackson
DL Sai’Vion Jones
QB Sam Ehlinger (PS)
OL Geron Christian

— Gabriel

Who to root for (11:06 a.m.): A Broncos fan’s rooting guide for today:

In the early window:

Cleveland to win against Buffalo
Dallas to win against the Chargers

Tonight: Baltimore to beat New England. — Gabriel

It is a beauty of a morning at Empower Field (11:02 a.m.): Unseasonably warm and the sun’s starting to poke out.

Pregame scene around the stadium definitely does not have the same pop as last week with Green Bay in town, but it’s a big game nonetheless. Denver can move at least to the doorstep of a division title and the No. 1 seed with a win over Jacksonville. A loss and everything could tighten up quick. — Gabriel

Scouting report (10:30 a.m.): Check out how the Broncos match up with the Jaguars in Luca Evans’ scouting report.

Game predictions

Parker Gabriel, Broncos writer: Broncos 27, Jaguars 20

There have been several points during this 11-game run where it’s easy to look at the opponent and say, ‘yeah, this could be the week.’ Before it was even a streak at Philadelphia. Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Green Bay. All but one of those — looking at you, Cowboys defense — and most of the others, too, have ended up close. Jacksonville is another contender in now a three-month End the Streak challenge. Somehow, the Jags end up like the rest.

Luca Evans, Broncos writer: Broncos 28, Jaguars 24

At this point, every single game Denver plays the rest of the season is going to be a one-score game, because that’s apparently the way that fate intended. So this is going to be a Mile High toss-up between two of the hottest teams in the league, and could come down to a head-to-head quarterback battle between Bo Nix and Trevor Lawrence. Here’s leaning Nix against the Jaguars’ pass defense.

Troy Renck, columnist: Broncos 26, Jaguars 23

Are we sure the Packers will be the best team the Broncos face this season? The Jaguars are firmly in the conversation with Liam Coen’s offense running on nitromethane and a defense smothering running games. This is a chance for Bo Nix to enter the MVP race. A milepost to pass on the way to the AFC’s top seed. The difference will be homefield advantage and Sean Payton’s career dominance against first-time head coaches (30-12).

Sean Keeler, columnist: Broncos 27, Jaguars 26

It took a half for the Broncos’ D to touch Jordan Love. You probably can’t afford to wait that long against Trevor Lawrence — he’s 0-3 this season, and 2-11 over his NFL career, when sacked four or more times in a game. New Jags WR Jakobi Meyers has been a quiet Broncos pest, averaging seven catches for 84 yards and a score over four career games vs. Denver, but Bo Nix prevails (again).

Broncos-Jaguars NFL Week 16: Must-reads
Bo Nix’s footwork is ‘a lot better’ as he plays under center more. Coincidence?

The Packers game represented a breakout as Nix completed 23 of 34 passes for 302 yards and those four touchdowns, but his game has been heating up more broadly over the past month. He had an efficient day, albeit in a much different style against Las Vegas, completing 31 of 38 passes and engineering three battering-ram touchdown drives. He threw for 616 yards in the two weeks before that in wins over Washington and Kansas City.

In those four games, Nix has completed 69.5% of his passes for 282.5 yards per game and thrown five touchdowns and an interception. Before that stretch, he completed 60.9% and averaged 212 yards per game. What’s changed? Start from the ground up. Read Parker Gabriel’s story.

Through gauntlet of red-hot offenses, Broncos’ defense continues to preach red-zone strength

This Broncos defense is not perfect. Far from it. It is prone to communication errors in coordinator Vance Joseph’s match-coverage-heavy scheme. It has been bruised by tight ends and sliced open by running backs in the passing game. It surrendered a 40-yard TD run to Packers running back Josh Jacobs last Sunday that still frustrates defensive-line coach Jamar Cain, days later. The Broncos bend. And bend.

But they rarely break. It starts when opponents march into their territory — and inside the 20-yard-line, where the Broncos have still surrendered far and away the lowest percentage of touchdowns in the red zone (38.5%) in the NFL entering Week 15. This is their mentality, honed since defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s first meeting of the year, as linebacker Alex Singleton recalled Friday. Read Luca Evans’ story.

Renck: Super Bo or bust for Broncos. Why Nix deserves more respect.

Super Bo or bust. This is where the Broncos find themselves entering Sunday’s game, chasing the AFC’s No. 1 seed against the suddenly dangerous Jacksonville Jaguars.

The last time we saw Bo Nix he was riddling the Green Bay Packers vaunted defense. The last time we heard Nix he was praising Broncos Country for putting on their seatbelts, riding the roller coaster and showing patience with him. The next time he will receive universal respect will be the first time. Read Troy Renck’s column.

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