Mile High Report
The Denver Broncos took care of business and defeated the Los Angeles Chargers in their Week 18 matchup. By doing so, the Broncos are now the top seed in the AFC for the postseason, get a first-round bye, and coveted homefield advantage. The defense was ferocious, but the offense struggled to be efficient throughout most of the game. Let’s get into some instant reactions from today’s big victory.
Against Chargers’ backups the Broncos’ offense fails to get going
We can ride the good vibes of Denver securing the top seed in the AFC playoffs. It’s been a long time since that has happened. Nevertheless, how the offense performed today should give any fan a reason to be concerned. Especially with the playoffs right around the corner.
For the first half, it was a vanilla gameplan consisting mostly of inside runs and short screen throws. While the Broncos did march down the field on 15-play, 81-yard drive on their first possession of the game, they had to settle for a 24-yard Wil Lutz field goal.
The rest of the game? There really wasn’t much to write home about. It wasn’t until the second half where Bo Nix was able to complete a pass down the field for more than ten yards. The Chargers have a good defense. It’s a Top 10 unit in the league. And yes, Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter might be a Head Coach after this hiring cycle. Regardless, I was expecting more from the offense in this pivotal matchup with Los Angeles resting some key starters.
Will two weeks of preparation for their Divisional Round opponent be enough to finally come up with a gameplan that can be executed well and result in more points? Only time will tell. I certainly hope so. There’s a good shot the Chargers could be coming to Denver for that game. Let’s be real, netting under 250 yards a game settling for field goals instead of touchdowns is not a recipe for success.
Denver’s offensive line struggles with pass protection
One area I haven’t had to critique too much throughout the season was Denver’s pass protection. For most weeks, it has been stellar with Nix has had ample time to operate in the pocket. In today’s game? That wasn’t the case. In fact, pass protection leaks may have been one of the biggest concerns anyone could have taken away from today’s gridiron battle.
Even against the Chargers’ backups, the Broncos gave up a lot of pressure which flushed Nix out of pockets most every drive. I thought Alex Forsyth and Ben Powers had trouble dealing with interior pressure, especially on linebacker blitzes, in the gap between them. For the game, Nix was sacked four times—the most of any game during their 2025 campaign.
Without question, this is an area Denver will have to improve upon if they want to be serious about a deep postseason run. Nix is going to have to be protected well and have time to get into a...
