In the second straight Sunday with a gut-wrenching loss, the Broncos fell three games to the back of the pack of the AFC West with a 23-20 loss to the Chargers. Here’s The Post’s report card from the loss.
OFFENSE — C-
Where to even begin? The Broncos’ first three drives Sunday went for three straight three-and-outs, a haunted house of penalties, ineffective run-blocking and personnel scattering on and off the field like lab rats. Up until a two-minute drill to end the first half, Denver had exactly 42 yards of offense. And then Sean Payton cast magic.
Bo Nix’s 52-yard touchdown bomb to Courtland Sutton on a fourth-and-2 opened the floodgates, and J.K. Dobbins got rolling in the second half after finishing with negative yardage in the first. But Denver bungled five — five — chances to extend their lead to two scores in the second half after taking resounding control of the game in the second half. The final one was a killer: Nix overthrowing Sutton streaking down the right sideline on a third-and-10 by a few fingertips. An image that’ll live in Broncos fans’ heads for a long time.
Broncos analysis: Bo Nix, Denver blow fourth-quarter lead for second straight week
DEFENSE — B+
The demise of the Broncos’ pass-rush was greatly exaggerated.
Denver had three first-quarter sacks and never let up on Justin Herbert all day, even when the Chargers’ offense got going. It takes a significant amount of force to keep the 6-foot-6, 236-pound Herbert on the turf, and yet Dondrea Tillman popped him so hard in the fourth quarter that Herbert lay for a few beats after a third-down completion. The Chargers’ offensive line seemed to be simply waving feathers at the Broncos’ front in the second half, with Nik Bonitto blowing up star Los Angeles tackle Joe Alt all afternoon. But Herbert’s iron-clad frame kept firing, and the Chargers’ quarterback diced up the Broncos’ secondary on a couple of fourth-quarter drives to finish with 300 yards on the day.
SPECIAL TEAMS — B-
Darren Rizzi’s follow-up to a Week 2 disaster started with … more disaster. As the defense got off the field on the Chargers’ second drive of the day, outside linebacker Nik Bonitto somehow lined up in the neutral zone in punt coverage, giving the ball back on an offsides penalty. Punter Jeremy Crawshaw’s first boot fluttered outside the 20. Chargers punt returner Demario Davis reversed a second-quarter punt for 33 yards, too.
But Rizzi’s units pulled together nicely over the course of Sunday — and had a massive third-quarter swing on a strip-fumble by Jonah Elliss. Marvin Mims Jr. continued to feel out lanes in the return game, finishing with 56 yards on two punt returns, and Crawshaw had a banner day with a 47.1 average on seven punts.
COACHING — B
The Broncos’ late failings weren’t entirely on Sean Payton, who was trending towards an F here before unleashing fire and fury on the Chargers with the Nix-to-Sutton fake pitch at the end of the first half. He dialed up a beauty, too, on a third-and-long first-half play in which Nix simply fired too long to a wide-open Marvin Mims Jr. on a flea flicker. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph called some creative red-zone blitzes. And the Broncos had a chance to take the top off on that Sutton streak. Still, Payton is now 1-6 head-to-head against Jim Harbaugh. That’s gotta sting.
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