{"id":655950,"date":"2026-01-05T13:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/655950\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T13:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:10:10","slug":"5-takeaways-from-broncos-19-3-win-over-chargers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/655950\/","title":{"rendered":"5 takeaways from Broncos’ 19-3 win over Chargers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Denver Broncos<\/a>\u00a0(14-3) defeated the\u00a0Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>\u00a0(11-6) 19-3<\/a> at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday afternoon. Here are five quick takeaways from the AFC West showdown.<\/p>\n

1. Sunday’s game was sluggish, but Denver got the job done: After the team’s underwhelming Christmas win in Kansas City, coach Sean Payton said, “It doesn\u2019t have to be aesthetically pleasing to be effective.” That was the case again on Sunday as the Broncos<\/a> secured the No. 1 seed<\/a> and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs despite a sluggish performance on offense. After going 81 yards on the game’s opening drive, Denver stalled and settled for a field goal. Not counting the final kneeldown, the Broncos later had eight drives that gained 18 or fewer net yards, and they went 0-of-3 in the red zone as kicker Wil Lutz converted four field goals. Payton was likely calling a vanilla offensive plan as they might see the Chargers again in a few weeks, but it certainly wasn’t an aesthetically pleasing victory. Broncos fans would have no complaints if the ugly wins continued all the way to a Super Bowl title, but it remains to be seen if this offense has what it takes to win in the postseason.<\/p>\n

2. Denver’s knicked up going into the playoffs: Broncos linebacker Dre Greenlaw (hamstring<\/a>), defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers (hip<\/a>), center Alex Forsyth (ankle<\/a>), left tackle Garett Bolles (ankle<\/a>) and safety P.J. Locke (leg<\/a>) are all dealing with various ailments. Forsyth and Bolles said after the game that they’ll be good for the postseason, and Greenlaw is expected to also return, but the statuses of Locke and JFM are less certain. The playoff bye will help the Broncos rest and recover.<\/p>\n

3. Vance Joseph distractions could begin this week: Because Denver clinched a first-round bye, other NFL clubs are allowed to interview Broncos coaches for head coach openings this week. Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is the team’s most notable HC candidate this hiring cycle, and he could interview for openings as early as Tuesday<\/a>. We will track all of the latest interview buzz for Joseph (and any other members of Sean Payton’s staff) on Broncos Wire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. J.K. Dobbins could return sooner than initially expected: When Dobbins suffered a Lisfranc injury in November, initial reports suggested that Dobbins would only be able to return if Denver reached Super Bowl LX<\/a> in February. Dobbins attended Sunday’s game and when asked by a fan if he could return for the Super Bowl, Dobbins said “sooner<\/a>,” according to a fan at the game. That was later confirmed during the CBS broadcast when Jim Nantz said Payton told the network Dobbins could return for the AFC Championship game if the Broncos advance that far.<\/p>\n

5. Broncos wait for their playoff schedule: Denver will skip the wild-card round (Jan. 10-12<\/a>) of the NFL playoffs and host a divisional round game on either Jan. 17 or Jan. 18. The Broncos’ potential divisional round opponents include the Los Angeles Chargers (No. 7) and Buffalo Bills (No. 6), who will play on their games on Jan. 11<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the Broncos win in the divisional round, they will also host the AFC Championship game (Jan. 25). If Denver reaches Super Bowl LX (Feb. 8), the Broncos will return to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the team won Super Bowl 50 following the 2015 season.<\/p>\n

Social: Follow\u00a0Broncos Wire<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter\/X<\/a>!\u00a0Did you know:\u00a0These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Denver Broncos\u00a0(14-3) defeated the\u00a0Los Angeles Chargers\u00a0(11-6) 19-3 at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday afternoon. Here…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[6261,3877,247,265,10522,232,1872,231,258,2426,4329,1160,7,79969,24697,10521,1713,4330,6489,60574,20842,4465,2318,7068,60573,248,267,246,88,6,35196,245,264,9,266,7067,3906],"class_list":["post-655950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-alex","tag-alex-forsyth","tag-american","tag-american-football","tag-bolles","tag-broncos","tag-christmas","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denverbroncos","tag-dre","tag-dre-greenlaw","tag-football","tag-forsyth","tag-franklin-myers","tag-garett","tag-garett-bolles","tag-greenlaw","tag-holiday","tag-holiday-marketplace-hub","tag-hub","tag-john","tag-john-franklin-myers","tag-lutz","tag-marketplace","tag-national","tag-national-sports","tag-neutral","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-hub","tag-overall","tag-overall-neutral","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-wil","tag-wil-lutz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115842660918751164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}