The Broncos officially stamped a No. 1 seed in a 14-3 season at Empower Field on Sunday, the triumphant result of a few-month march that’s featured overwhelming amounts of bit fingernails and bouncing knees in Denver. This Week 18 performance — on offense — was less-than triumphant, in a 19-6 win over the Chargers. Still, the Broncos earned themselves a first-round bye.
Here’s The Denver Post’s report card from the afternoon.
OFFENSE — F
Welcome to the worst performance of an already-turbulent season for Sean Payton‘s offense.
Bad vibes abounded. Start to finish. Bo Nix clapped at RJ Harvey. Davis Webb barked at Nix on the sidelines. Courtland Sutton came over to sit next to Nix in the second half. Nothing really worked. After three quarters of fruitless drive and six total points on offense, a Nik Bonitto strip-sack gave the Broncos the ball back in the fourth quarter at Los Angeles’s 20-yard-line. A chance to salvage some dignity.
They lost 2 yards and settled for a field goal.
Nix played poorly — 14-of-23 for 141 yards, no touchdowns and no picks — but this was hardly his fault. Denver’s pass protection was porous for most of the day Sunday, with no time to set up any sort of shot play other than a 37-yarder to Evan Engram in the first half. Running back Jaleel McLaughlin was excellent with 58 total yards on seven touches, but didn’t touch the ball nearly enough; Harvey finished with just 28 rushing yards on 15 carries. Even if Payton was trying to keep a few tricks under his sleeve for a playoff run, this wasn’t the confidence-builder heading into a playoff bye week that the Broncos might’ve wanted.
Broncos four downs: Sean Payton turned Bo Nix into Boo Nix after offensive struggles vs. Chargers
DEFENSE — A
For long stretches of the first half Sunday, Trey Lance had better odds completing a pass to a ballboy on the sidelines than one of his actual receivers.
The Chargers’ offense was utterly toothless Sunday with former first-round pick Lance running the show, after head coach Jim Harbaugh announced Monday he was sitting Justin Herbert with little on the line for Los Angeles in Week 18. Lance went 11-of-20 for 81 yards and a tipped pick-six to Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian, and seemed only capable of throwing the occasional slant. Denver’s secondary didn’t have to work too hard on Sunday.
The defensive line, meanwhile, found a mostly-excellent balance of caging the nimble Lance and overpowering a depleted Chargers offensive line. Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto regained some early-season momentum with 1.5 sacks, including a forced fumble. Eyioma Uwazurike was terrific in the first-ever start of his NFL career, recording a couple quarterback hits. And the Broncos finished with four sacks on the day, officially minting this unit as tied for fifth all-time in sacks (68) with the 1985 New York Giants. A Bronco-orange cherry on top of a truly elite season.
SPECIAL TEAMS — B+
A highly solid performance here from Darren Rizzi’s crew to finish out a turbulent regular season. Punter Jeremy Crawshaw had a busy day with the Broncos’ offense sputtering and didn’t connect on a couple quite right, but still averaged 47.8 yards a punt. And Marvin Mims Jr. put the finishing touches on another banner season as a returner, popping off a 33-yard runback down the left sideline in the third quarter.
Mims didn’t crack the 2025 Pro Bowl after missing a couple games midseason with a concussion, but still entered Week 18 with the most punt-return yardage (416) of any returner in the NFL. Sunday capped off another banner day for him, Denver’s kick coverage was solid, and kicker Wil Lutz went 3-of-3 on the day to finish with an 87% clip on the season.
COACHING — C-
Payton started off hot in the first quarter, with a monster 15-play, 81-yard drive of mostly under-center looks that bruised the Chargers on the ground. McLaughlin found lanes. Harvey fought for yards. Nix used his legs as a weapon.
And then, from the 6-yard line, Payton drew up a second-down screen to Pat Bryant. On third down, Nix opted for a checkdown to Tyler Badie that lost three yards. The Broncos settled for a field goal. And settled. And kept settling.
Payton’s plan wasn’t terrible on Sunday, but an offensive mind known for his aggressiveness simply hasn’t been aggressive the last two weeks. His Chargers game plan — thrown by an offensive front that allowed too much pressure — featured the same heavy doses of dink-and-dunk hits as Denver showed on Christmas. The Broncos didn’t score a touchdown, and looked discombobulated in a game they would’ve had to try incredibly hard to lose.