DENVER — For the Broncos, the best thing about Sunday’s 19-3 win is that it guaranteed that they won’t have to play next Sunday — or next Saturday, whenever they might have been scheduled to play in the wild-card round had they absorbed an unexpected upset loss to a Los Angeles Chargers side resting most of its starters.
It’s the free pass. It’s one less click in the game of postseason Russian Roulette, with four potential divisional-round opponents that include three teams that appear perfectly capable of dealing the Broncos a knockout blow.
The Broncos beat the fifth-seeded Houston Texans in Week 9, but that was a game in which quarterback C.J. Stroud left in the first half due to a concussion, coming in the midst of a 3-5 start. They haven’t lost since.
The sixth-seeded Buffalo Bills walloped Denver last January in the wild-card round. And the seventh-seeded Chargers haven’t lost to the Broncos under Jim Harbaugh when starting Justin Herbert at quarterback.
Los Angeles would have been the Broncos’ opponent next weekend had the Broncos failed to recover their balance Sunday after some wobbles. Instead, their slips on the banana peel — epitomized by an offense that never crossed the goal line — weren’t enough to doom the day.
Thus, by the time toe meets leather in the Broncos’ first playoff home game in nearly a decade, it’s possible all three of these potential problematic foes could be eliminated. At the very least, Denver only has to spin the Playoff Wheel of Misfortune twice before the Super Bowl.
“When people ask, ‘What’s the benefit of the [No.] 1 seed?’ Many will say it’s the rest. I personally think it’s the elimination of a game that you don’t have to play,’” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.
And in the end, getting that in the most rudimentary fashion was the only relevant task. After all, if the Chargers defeat the New England Patriots next Sunday, they will return to Denver for the divisional round.
It benefitted neither team to show much beyond the essentials. The Broncos had to play to win with the No. 1 seed on the line; the Chargers, with only a low seed at stake, chose to prioritize health. The entire scope of Sunday’s proceedings must be viewed through that prism; this would not be a game in which Payton would unleash a play of ingenious design.
Save it for later.
But going 0-for-3 in the red zone — which drops the offense to 3-for-9 in the last three games — is justifiable cause for concern.
“We’ll get back to the drawing board with the red zone, but we’ve been decent there at times this year,” quarterback Bo Nix said. “It’s nothing to panic about, but I think we can look into it a little bit.”
It’s a flaw that could sink the playoff hopes if not corrected. This is still a team that played 13 one-score games in the 2025 season and tied the NFL record for most wins by eight or fewer points in a season.
They don’t exist in a realm that offers much margin for error, whether it be in the red zone, in penalties, in giveaways. And that’s why earning the bye was so crucial. It took a week’s work of potential error out of the mix.
BRONCOS AVOID AN ELIMINATION GAME — AND A GAME THAT COULD ELIMINATE PLAYERS
The win Sunday provided the Broncos a stark reminder of what next week’s game could cost them.
Safety P.J. Locke didn’t finish the contest due to a leg injury suffered on a jarring tackle of Chargers tight end Oronde Gadsden II; he’s the second safety lost to injury in recent weeks, joining Brandon Jones on the sideline.
Center Alex Forsyth was shaken up and went to the blue medical tent in the first half; he missed four plays but returned. Nevertheless, the Broncos faced the prospect of being on their No. 3 center, with the recently-acquired Sam Mustipher handling repetitions while club medical personnel examined Forsyth, who himself is a fill-in for the injured Luke Wattenberg.
Left tackle Garett Bolles briefly left due to an ankle injury that forced him to hobble back to the sideline for further examination. He eventually returned and now gets two weeks to heal.
“I have 14 days to get it right, so, I’ll be all right,” he said.
The same can be said of the Broncos at large, who aren’t storming into the postseason as much as they’re wheezing their way in after a pair of humdrum wins over division rivals with denuded rosters — for different reasons.
They have 14 days to get it right, fix the glitches and find a gear that they’ve only occasionally located. But then when they come out of their foxhole of preparation, they only face two potential bullets before the Super Bowl instead of three.
