10 moments that defined the Broncos’ historic, 14-3 regular season ...Middle East

When Cameron Dicker knocked home a walk-off field goal for the Chargers at SoFi Stadium in late September and dropped the Broncos to 1-2 on the season, few could have seen the next 15 weeks coming.

When Denver trailed Philadelphia, 17-3, early in the fourth quarter of Week 5, the idea that the Broncos would lose just one more game on the season — and that they’d come back to beat the defending champs — would have seemed laughable.

What unfolded over the fall, however, was a remarkable run for Sean Payton’s team. Fourteen wins despite trailing in all but two of them. Just three losses and only one after Sept. 21. A tie for the best record in football. An 11-game winning streak that began at home against Cincinnati, ended at home against Jacksonville and spanned three months plus the Atlantic Ocean.

Here are the 10 moments that defined Denver’s run to the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

1. A feel-good finish to training camp

Heading into Week 1, the only outstanding matter from the Broncos’ offseason was Nik Bonitto’s contract situation. When he signed a four-year extension worth $106 million, it put the finishing touches on a spring and summer spent locking in major contracts with core players. First defensive tackle D.J. Jones in the spring, then a summer run that began with receiver Courtland Sutton, continued with defensive tackle Zach Allen and finally finished with Bonitto.

For a group that had Super Bowl aspirations from the time they arrived for training camp in July, the run of big extensions provided a tailwind of good vibes to ride into the regular season. It’s already paid off, too. Sutton, Allen and Bonitto are all Pro Bowlers this year and Jones played some of the best football of his career in the middle of Denver’s defensive line. Bo Nix (10) of the Denver Broncos prepares to lead his team onto the field to face the San Francisco 49ers before the first quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

2. Jazz Fest and all the rest

Denver’s first road trip of the season was to San Jose for joint practices and a preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers. Two important things happened in those four days. First, Payton set the tone for the season by noting after the game that there “are about 14 things I’m pissed off about” regarding the trip itself. The fact that a Jazz festival was happening across the street from the team’s hotel was more humorous than anything else — at least to everybody except the head coach — but Payton will always find a way to set the standard for everybody. The other thing: Denver hit the field for the first time in the preseason playing at Levi’s Stadium, the site of Super Bowl LX. That provided a perfect opportunity for the team to set a simple goal: Finish the season in the same place you started it.

3. Burnham Yard Day

The Broncos got off to a 1-0 start at Empower Field in September, then made a major announcement about the future of the franchise when they named Burnham Yard the club’s preferred site for a future stadium. Selecting the site was two-plus years in the making and set the stage for more than a half-decade of planning, working with community groups and ideally, eventually, putting shovels in the dirt just south of the current stadium. Not only does the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group plan to build a new stadium, but it has also acquired surrounding land totaling more than 100 acres for an entertainment district. The present is going just fine for the Broncos, but the future is coming sooner rather than later.

4. The “Leverage” penalty

Denver’s first loss of the season was a brutal one. It also turned into something of a galvanizing moment. The Broncos led the entire fourth quarter at Indianapolis — a team that would subsequently run out to a 7-1 start and looked like a primary AFC threat until QB Daniel Jones’ injury — but lost in excruciating fashion. A 60-yard Colts field goal attempt missed at the buzzer, but a 15-yard penalty for “leverage” on Denver’s interior defensive line gave Spencer Shrader a 45-yard mulligan, which he buried. The game wasn’t the last time the Broncos would lose in walk-off fashion — they did again the next week against the Los Angeles Chargers — or the last time they’d have a costly special teams mistake, but it did serve as something of a bonding moment in that it was similarly traumatic to the walk-off field goal at Kansas City the year before that got blocked. Soon enough, the Broncos would turn the late-game, close-game tides in a major way.

5. A springboard win

The Broncos got to 2-2 with a win over Cincinnati, but were big underdogs at Philadelphia in Week 5. They looked to be heading on a long trip to London with a loss when they trailed the defending Super Bowl champs 17-3 early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Bo Nix and company took over from there. Nix led touchdown drives of 64 and 72 yards. On the second, he hit Evan Engram for a touchdown to get Denver within a point, then Troy Franklin on a two-point conversion to take the lead midway through the quarter. Wil Lutz added a 36-yard field goal to extend the lead with 1:14 remaining and the Broncos’ defense held off a last-ditch drive and a couple of throws into the end zone for a 21-17 win. It was arguably the biggest of Payton’s tenure at the time and it set the Broncos off across the Atlantic feeling like they could make a run.

“When you go on the road against a team that was undefeated dating back to last year, defending Super Bowl champs, and you get a win like that, it’s definitely going to build confidence,” Engram said. “Obviously, we’ve had a bunch more after that, there have been some crazy finishes, but looking back, that was the jumpstart for us.”

6. A Giant comeback

If the Eagles’ win gave the Broncos belief, then the fourth quarter against the Giants gave them a sense of invincibility. After a spicy week of back-and-forth where New York’s players took issue with how Jonathon Cooper talked about rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, the visitors backed up their talk. For three quarters, at least. The Giants shut Denver out into the fourth quarter, only to have the Broncos storm to 33 points in the final 14:08. New York led by three scores with 5:13 left and also took the lead on a Dart touchdown run (after a brutal pass interference call against Riley Moss) with 37 seconds remaining. It didn’t matter. Nix and company got Lutz in position and he hammered through a walk-off field goal. Pick a moment: Justin Strnad’s interception to get Denver back in the game. Nix running in an 18-yard score to take the lead. The final field goal. They are all defining-type moments.

7. An ode to DragonSlayer69

In the midst of the Broncos’ winning ways, a curious thing happened: Nix hit a bit of a rut. The second-year quarterback’s completion percentage dropped and he appeared to struggle just to find a rhythm. Ditto for the offense as a whole. Going into a mini-bye week after a 10-7 win against the Raiders, players were blunt about the need for offensive improvement. And fast.

Well, 10 days later, Nix played great against Kansas City, including a game-winning drive that set up yet another Lutz walk-off. This one came with a heaping dose of deja vu — Lutz knocked home the kick from the same distance as the one the Chiefs blocked against him a year prior at Arrowhead Stadium. The Broncos took full control of the AFC West this time around and kicked Kansas City’s second-half spiral into full gear.

Then, tight end Adam Trautman delivered the quote of the year to send Denver into its bye week at 9-2.

“If you’re talking (crap) about Bo online, you’re a coward. Absolute coward,” he said. “Just want to say that and guard him a little bit. … We don’t care what other people think. We know what we have in the building and we know what he’s made of. And we don’t really care what people have to say. So, DragonSlayer69 with his 7-Eleven Slurpee in his mom’s basement, I don’t give a (crap) what you have to say. And Bo doesn’t, either.”

8. Pat Surtain’s pick vs. the Pack

The Broncos’ winning streak looked destined to end at 10 games in the second half of Week 15 against Green Bay. The Packers had executed well around halftime, scored to open the third quarter and had the ball back, leading 23-14, after a Broncos’ three-and-out. The Packers dialed up a kill shot. Jordan Love dropped back and threw the ball deep down the field for Christian Watson. Reigning defensive player of the year Pat Surtain II cut the ball off, dove through the air and intercepted the pass. Surtain took off at the Denver 35-yard line and didn’t hit the ground until the 28, flying 20 feet and securing the ball in the process. That was the only spark the Broncos needed. The offense took the ball down and scored, kicking off a run of three straight touchdown drives and turning a two-score deficit into a 34-26 victory.

9. Zoo Lights and ugly shirts

When you haven’t won a division title in a decade, it really doesn’t matter what the circumstances are when the drought ends. All you care about is the rain falling. Turns out, the Broncos won the AFC West in unique fashion. They grinded out a Christmas Night win at Kansas City and then watched two days later as Houston beat the Los Angeles Chargers, securing a division title for the Broncos while they enjoyed a weekend of rest.

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Inside linebacker Alex Singleton was at Zoo Lights with his family when he found out. Others watched on TV. OLB Nik Bonitto didn’t watch at all, proclaiming that he doesn’t like watching football outside of film study.

Then phones started ringing, group texts blew up and a remote celebration kicked off. In the team’s Monday morning meeting, Payton celebrated by… well, by not mentioning it at all. In fact, the most interesting commentary of the early week was about the division champion hats and t-shirts, which were waiting for players in their lockers. “I hear they’re pretty ugly,” Payton said.

Maybe so, but the achievement was a beautiful thing in Broncos Country.

10. Anticlimactic, but a summit nonetheless

Week 18 is always a roll of the dice in the NFL. You never know what kind of matchup you’re going to get. In fact, the Broncos nearly had themselves an AFC West title game against the Chargers at Empower Field. Instead, when the Chargers lost in Week 17 to Houston, they not only lost the chance to play for the West, but they also opted to sit quarterback Justin Herbert and several other key players in preparation for the postseason.

In that regard, then, the regular season finale became a bit of a dud. For the Broncos, though, the stakes still mattered. Ja’Quan McMillian’s pick-six put Denver up 10-0 early and took any lingering consternation mostly out of the equation. It wasn’t the most beautiful display of execution on the year — the tape “wasn’t really good offensively,” Payton later said — but the Broncos got the job done. They won, 19-3, finished the regular season 14-3 and secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed. A remarkable season capped by a rather nondescript outing.

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