Thursday night’s outing was definitely painful for the Denver Broncos. On the verge of claiming a playoff spot, the team suffered a 34-27 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Chargers. Denver failed to capitalize on a halftime lead, as a quiet second half resulted in a come-from-behind victory for their foes. This, in turn, marked a switch in the AFC West standings. Despite both teams holding 9-6 records, the Chargers’ win now puts them in second place while the Broncos slip down to number three.
Of course, it isn’t the end of the world yet for Sean Payton’s squad; They still have an 84% chance of making the postseason, per NFL.com. Nevertheless, the road ahead won’t be any easier. Next week, they’ll be facing a Cincinnati Bengals team that — albeit holding a losing record — boasts the league’s best passing offense. Move further ahead and the Broncos close out their regular season with a game against the Kansas City Chiefs. No further explanation needed.
Going back, how bad was Denver’s Thursday performance, exactly? The rest of the article will talk about it in detail, so without further ado, here are the culprits for the Broncos’ Week 16 loss.
Sloppy second-half play — offense
There really isn’t one person to blame for the Broncos’ second-half collapse. It’s like the entire team somehow lost steam. In the first half, Denver had three consecutive 70-yard drives and three touchdowns. They had no trouble moving the chains, as the utilization of multiple running backs and efficient passing from Bo Nix sparked the hot start. Rookie Audric Estime ran for the first touchdown while Nix found Michael Burton and Devaughn Vele for the next two, respectively.
In the final two quarters, however, the Broncos struggled to advance the ball and never found the endzone. The run game they established early on disappeared, and the team had to settle for field goals as their only source of points. In fact, one could even deduce that the downhill tumble began late in the second quarter. The Broncos led 21-10 with less than a minute remaining before halftime but they went three-and-out, and a penalty in the ensuing punt resulted in a 57-yard fair-catch kick that Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker converted.
The Broncos scored a field goal early in the third quarter to bring the lead back up to 11, but it wouldn’t be enough. Their next three drives ended in punts, with the team going three-and-out (yet again) in two of the said drives. At the same time, the Chargers gained traction, eventually taking and growing the lead with a 15-point fourth quarter. All in all, five of Denver’s last seven drives ended in punts.
Sloppy second-half play — defense
The defense doesn’t get a pass here either. For a team who entered Week 16 allowing just 17.6 opponent points per game, the Broncos uncharacteristically gave up practically double that amount on Thursday. They seemed locked in at first, managing an interception — a career-first from rookie Kris Abrams-Draine — and holding the Chargers to just one touchdown through LA’s first five possessions.
That all changed in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter, when Justin Herbert’s heroics ensued due to lapses in coverage. The missed tackles on Gus Edwards and Hassan Haskins during LA’s second-to-the-last drive didn’t help either, as the touchdown in that possession gave the Chargers a 10-point cushion with 2:27 remaining.
Penalties
The fair-catch interference that led to Dicker’s kick was just one of seven total penalties that the Broncos had. Through the Chargers’ first two drives of the second half — drives that ended up in touchdowns, by the way — several costly penalties were called on Denver. On offense, the Broncos’ O-line committed false starts plus an offensive holding penalty as well.
It’s best to end on a positive note here. Maybe Week 16’s three-day preparation period took its toll on the team. After all, their previous game against the Indianapolis Colts happened just last Sunday. Moving forward, the Broncos now have more than enough time to regroup for their clash against the Bengals, which commences on December 28.
