LANDOVER, Md. — Nik Bonitto called game.
The streak is alive.
The Broncos have won nine straight.
They are tied with New England for the best record in football at 10-2.
It was anything but easy.
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Bonitto batted down a game-deciding, two-point conversion attempt and Denver survived a scare at Washington on Sunday night with a 27-26 overtime win at Northwest Stadium.
It came down to the last play of the extra session.
The Broncos thought they’d won on a fourth-down, tipped-ball interception by Brandon Jones, but fellow safety Talanoa Hufanga was called for pass interference.
The Commanders thought they’d scored a touchdown on a 30-yard touchdown that was negated by a holding penalty, then moved to the doorstep thanks to a 38-yard completion from Marcus Mariota to Deebo Samuel past coverage from Riley Moss.
They scored on fourth-and-goal with 2:47 left in overtime.
Bonitto came free off the edge on the deciding two-point conversion try, knocked Mariota’s pass down and sprinted to the Denver sideline in celebration.
The Broncos had the lead because second-year quarterback Bo Nix engineered a quick-hitting touchdown drive to open the extra session, highlighted by a 41-yard catch-and-run from tight end Evan Engram.
Nix then hit receiver Courtland Sutton for 6 yards, and rookie running back RJ Harvey plunged into the end zone from 5 yards out to put the Broncos in front.
The defense had to find its stride in the second half when the offense’s production dried up almost entirely. After back-to-back scoring drives around halftime and four 10-plus play marches in their first five possessions, Denver’s offense went dormant in the fourth quarter.
Denver had the ball four times in the fourth quarter, each time with the lead. Those drives ended in a bad Bo Nix interception and three punts.
Nix opened the quarter by not seeing linebacker Bobby Wagner in the middle of the field and throwing a ball right into his chest. Then Denver punted three straight times, mustering just two first downs. The group couldn’t run the ball consistently and found itself in third-and-long far too often.
After the first three of those offensive failures, Vance Joseph’s defense rose to the occasion. It forced a field goal after Nix’s pick and then back-to-back punts.
In the closing moments of regulation, though, the Commanders mounted a massive, grinding, 18-play drive that resulted in a 32-yard Jake Moody field goal to knot the game at 20 as regulation ended.
Key to the proceedings: A third-and-25 that turned into a first down on a 19-yard completion from Marcus Mariota to Samuel followed by an 8-yard, do-or-die completion to tight end Zach Ertz, who finished with 10 catches for 106 yards.
Mariota misfired twice in the final 12 seconds with chances to end the Broncos’ eight-game winning streak.
Until the closing sequence, the Broncos controlled much of regulation, but couldn’t muster enough offense to extend a lead.
Payton’s team put together four 10-plus-play marches in their first five possessions. The first two, though, petered out and resulted in Wil Lutz field goals.
Nix and the Denver offense mounted their crispest drive of the first half late, going 64 yards on 10 plays — all pass attempts — for a touchdown. Nix made a terrific play on the touchdown, moving to his right and somehow getting a pass off to receiver Courtland Sutton just before his knee touched down for what would have been a sack.
“It’s one of the things he does so well — extend plays,” Payton told the NBC broadcast as he headed for the halftime locker room. “That was a perfect example.”
What Nix also did on the scoring drive was get Sutton and tight end Evan Engram involved. Neither had a catch over the Broncos’ first three possessions, but they combined for five catches, 51 yards and ultimately the touchdown in the two-minute drill.
Then Denver put the ball in the end zone again on their first drive of the second half to answer a Commanders scoring drive — receiver Treylon Burks made one of the best catches of the year in the NFL for Washington — and put the Broncos back in front 20-14.
From there, though, the offense went dark, and the defense bent a little too much late in regulation.
Payton told his team in its first meeting off the bye week on Monday that they needed to cut down on penalties to get where they ultimately want to go. A needless penalty, however, set up Washington’s only score of the first half. After Zach Allen made a terrific play on quarterback Marcus Mariota, outside linebacker Nik Bonitto got flagged for a personal foul for pulling Washington center Tyler Biadasz off of Denver defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers.
That turned a third-and-long into first-and-goal from the 8-yard line. Chris Rodriguez scored right up the gut on the next snap.
The Broncos also struggled to tackle early in the game after coming off their bye week, an uncharacteristically leaky performance from Joseph’s group.
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