INGLEWOOD, Calif. — One more time, Bo Nix put control of the game high into the air up the left sideline.
The play started exactly to plan.
Courtland Sutton ate up his defender’s cushion, faked inside and then raced up the field.
Here, at last, was the chance for the Broncos to pull through down the stretch and put away a quality team.
They’ve struggled to do so in the early going this year and in the early stanza of Nix’s career.
In fact, entering Sunday, Nix and head coach Sean Payton had combined to win just twice in eight one-score games. They’d combined to win just twice against teams with winning records.
As Sutton created space between himself and Donte Jackson down the field, both of those numbers looked poised to change.
Instead, another chance at a signature win went begging. Another chance to put away a quality opponent fell by the wayside.
Courtland Sutton (14) of the Denver Broncos cannot haul in a deep pass from Bo Nix (10) with the game on the line during the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Chargers’ 23-20 win at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
All of the team’s preseason talk about the need for a fast start ended up in the same place as Nix’s final throw at SoFi Stadium: On the turf, just beyond outstretched fingertips.
By the time L.A. kicker Cameron Dicker booted the Broncos back to Denver with a 23-20 loss by way of a 43-yard walk-off field goal, Payton’s team had hit on several of its early-season hallmarks.
A boom, but too many busts.
A midgame deluge, but too much drought.
Flashes of brilliance, but far too many dumb penalties.
“Yeah, it felt very similar. We just felt like we kept going backwards,” Nix said. “Had no explosives when we needed them. Had the ball with a chance, and that drive, it felt like we didn’t do anything. Felt like we kept going backward and had long field position and long third downs.
“In this league, that’s not going to cut it.”
Another key component to this loss: A pair of deep balls that the Broncos had right there for the taking against the Chargers’ keep-everything-in-front defense that Nix put too much mustard on.
On the first, Marvin Mims Jr. and Troy Franklin each ran right past the L.A. secondary. Nix launched the ball up the right side for Mims, who could not run under what would have been a walk-in, 63-yard touchdown.
Tony Jefferson (23) of the Los Angeles Chargers breaks up a pass intended for Troy Franklin (11) of the Denver Broncos during the fourth quarter at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The second Nix will want back just as much.
Third-and-10. Coming out of the two-minute warning. Tie game. A chance to flip the field, perhaps bleed the rest of the clock and then win the game.
“We had run a few routes — in-breakers, stops, out-breakers, but we hadn’t run anything that really set up something and took off past them,” Nix said. “We knew in all their coverages, all their shells, we’d have a chance to go step on the DB’s toes and maybe outrun him and we’d have a chance, at least, at a vertical pass.”
Broncos-Chargers report card: Bo Nix, Sean Payton’s offense can’t connect late
They did, and Sutton broke open.
“And then we missed. Simple,” Sutton said.
Simple, sure, but costly.
Costly because the Broncos, for a second straight week, held a fourth-quarter lead on the road against a quality opponent and, for the second straight week, flew home with a loss.
Costly because, without a stable run game so far in the early going, the Broncos are putting their offense very much in Nix’s hands, and on Sunday, that resulted in just 14 completions on 25 attempts. One of them: A beauty of a 52-yard touchdown. The rest totaled 101 yards.
“He didn’t make no bad throws,” said running back J.K. Dobbins, echoing a sentiment heard in all corners of the visiting postgame locker room. “We’ve got to make a play for him, even if it’s not a good-paced ball. Gotta make a play. That’s what it is.”
Costly because, by most metrics, this looked like a game the Chargers thoroughly dominated.
They racked up 29 first downs to the Broncos’ nine. They possessed the ball for 36:40 compared to Denver’s 23:20. They converted 47% of their 17 third-down tries while the Broncos managed just two in 13 chances — a rate Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey called “garbage.”
The Broncos had 11 full possessions and went three-and-out seven times.
And yet, the visitors built a lead in the third quarter thanks to a dominant stretch of play around halftime.
Then, deja vu.
First, they went three-and-out in golden field position after JL Skinner recovered a Derius Davis kick return fumble and settled for a 42-yard Wil Lutz field goal.
Then came a fourth-down conversion to Sutton early in the fourth quarter that set up Denver first-and-goal at the 5. Leading 17-13 with 14 minutes left.
Instead of a put-away, the Broncos settled for another field goal after a Troy Franklin offensive pass interference penalty.
“That’s the one where, that drive, you have to finish in a touchdown,” Nix said. “You can’t kick a field goal. I just felt like we got down there, and then penalty, penalty, penalty moved us back. You’re not going to score on a top red zone defense when you’re moving backward.”
RJ Harvey (12) of the Denver Broncos gets upended as Daiyan Henley (0) of the Los Angeles Chargers looks to make a tackle during the first quarter at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The Broncos only had one penalty on that particular possession, but Nix had the right sentiment.
In the fourth quarter alone, the Denver offense committed three penalties for 25 yards. Tack on a 15-yard Talanoa Hufanga personal foul on the game’s final drive, and Denver had more penalty yards in the final 13-plus minutes than the Chargers had in the game.
“That needs to be cleaned up fast,” Payton said.
In back-to-back last-second road losses, his team has been penalized 18 times for 173 total yards. In the second halves of those games, the Broncos have started possessions with a chance to extend a one-score lead to two eight times and have mustered just six points.
The season is far from over, but this team has done themselves few favors over the first three weeks.
The Chargers are 3-0 with wins against every other team in the division.
Denver, meanwhile, has led each of its three games in the fourth quarter, only to see the last two slip through fingertips.
Cameron Dicker (11) of the Los Angeles Chargers makes a game-winning field goal as the Denver Broncos defense attempts to block the ball mid flight during the fourth quarter of the Chargers’ 23-20 win at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Payton vs. Harbaugh
Jim Harbaugh has had Sean Payton’s number dating back to the latter’s time in New Orleans. With Sunday’s win at SoFi Stadium, Harbaugh is now 6-1 against Payton-coached teams. That includes three straight wins since Harbaugh took over the Los Angeles Chargers last season.
Date
Payton’s team
Harbaugh’s team
Result
Sunday
Denver
at L.A. Chargers
L, 23-20
Comment: Justin Herbert’s late-game magic gives Chargers stranglehold on AFC West after three weeks.
Dec. 19, 2024
Denver
at L.A. Chargers
L, 34-27
Comment: Infamous fair-catch free-kick began unraveling as Denver squandered 21-10 first-half lead.
Oct. 13, 2024
at Denver
L.A. Chargers
L, 23-16
Comment: Chargers took 23-0 lead behind big J.K. Dobbins day, then held on for dear life after that.
Nov 9, 2014
at New Orleans
San Francisco
L, 27-24 (OT)
Comment: Drew Brees nearly brought Saints back for 11 down for dramatic win, but lead didn’t hold.
Nov. 17, 2013
at New Orleans
San Francisco
W, 23-20
Comment: Saints closed out game with three straight Garrett Hartley field goals, the last a walk-off winner.
Nov. 25, 2012
at New Orleans
San Francisco
L. 31-21
Comment: 49ers opened second half with back-to-back TDs, including Donte Whitner pick-6 of Drew Brees.
Jan. 14, 2012
New Orleans
at San Francisco
L, 36.32
Comment: Saints and 49ers trade TDs in final two minutes, with Alex Smith to Vernon Davis the game-winner.
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