Broncos Set NFL Record For Consecutive Wins In One-Score Games

The Denver Broncos are at the top of the NFL when it comes to getting wins in on-score games, and they’re doing it in historic fashion. The Broncos held on late to get a 26-21 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and it was their 16th consecutive one-score win, which is an NFL record. 

Nick Kosmider of The Athletic took a deeper dive into how they’re doing this, and he explored the fact that for a brief moment late in the game it didn’t look good. The Broncos got the ball back after a Carolina touchdown that put the Panthers five points down, and all hope of getting a couple of game-sealing first downs vanished when rookie running back Jonah Coleman couldn’t handle a pitch from quarterback Bo Nix. 

Coleman wound up running back toward his own end zone to recover the ball, and he was able to avoid disaster by covering up. The gaffe produced a punt that gave the Panthers a solid shot to come back and steal the game with a late touchdown after trailing 26-14, but the Denver defense doesn’t let things like this happen. 

The hero this time around was linebacker Nik Bonitto, who pounced on a strip sack to seal the win. That put Nix in position to take snaps in victory formation, and the record was safely set and nailed down. 

The win raised the inevitable question of whether the Broncos are lucky or good, and we already know how Denver coach Sean Payton feels about that one. 

“When those things keep falling your way,” Payton said, “that’s not by accident.”

There is some luck involved, however. Against Carolina it was a remarkably unlikely interception by safety Devon Key, who scooped up a pass in the end zone in the third quarter that was accidentally tipped up in the air by tight end Tommy Tremble as he was struggling to make the catch. 

What make the break even luckier was that the challenge flag appealing the initial incompletion was thrown late, and for a moment it looked like the officials hadn’t recognized it. But the challenge was made and the call got overturned, and the Broncos were able to drive the field and swing the game back their way with their last touchdown drive of the day. 

Payton knew he’d thrown the flag late, and he said afterward that it was the first time he could remember the call being that close, either for him or any other coach. The credit went to Evan Rothstein, the director of game management, who got a game ball afterward for seeing what had happened and relaying the need for a challenge call.