Credit Sean Payton’s squad for continuing to come up clutch, streaking to their fifth consecutive victory on Sunday, four of which have come by less than a touchdown.

Sunday’s 26-21 win over the Panthers came after trailing by one point entering the fourth quarter, the Broncos’ fifth win of the season after trailing at any point in the fourth. That ties the 2016 Lions and 2022 Vikings for the most wins after trailing in the fourth quarter in a team’s first nine games of a season since 2000, per NFL Research. Both the 2016 Lions and 2022 Vikings lost their first playoff game on Wild Card Weekend.

“I think [it’s] just the character of our guys, the toughness, competitiveness of our guys,” Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said after the game. “We’re just comfortable in that moment … when things get close there at the end of the game. Whatever it is, we have had a couple scores and then we always want to make it one score. … Just glad we’re on this side and winning ’em.”

The Broncos jumped out to a 10-0 advantage before the Panthers got back in the game and took a third-quarter lead. Carolina controlled the middle portion of the game, but Nix and Co. took over late, with two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, capped by a 26-yard strike from Nix to Pat Bryant. After the offense failed to get a game-sealing first down late, the defense stepped up and forced a fumble to squash the Panthers’ final drive.

“I just think we’ve been there before, so we know how to handle the situation,” Nik Bonitto, who had the game-sealing strip-sack of Bryce Young, said. “… At the end of the day, it was our job as a defense to just go out and finish.”

The victory set an NFL record with their 16th consecutive regular-season win in a one-score contest.

Broncos games are rarely normal. Sunday’s included a miraculous interception in the end zone that took a replay review of when Payton’s challenge flag was thrown before it could be reviewed.

We could say the magic will eventually run out, and the Broncos will regress to the mean in one-score games. However, there have been enough of them to admit it’s part of the makeup of Payton’s Broncos.

Maybe it will never be pretty, but that win column sure looks nice right now for the 7-2 squad.