DENVER — For the fourth consecutive home game this year, the Broncos were leading at halftime.
Which is not necessarily where they wanted to be.
They had lost their first three home games despite those halftime leads. Wait. It gets worse. The Broncos had lost an NFL-record 10 straight games when leading at the half, home and road. It was a skid that takes in the head coaching stints of Vic Fangio in 2021 and Nathaniel Hackett last year. (Which brings up another thought: The Broncos had only been leading at halftime 10 times in the last three seasons?)
"I don't pay attention to that,'' Broncos' head coach Sean Payton in his postgame press conference said about the team's dubious history. "It wasn't our hump."
Welcome to Broncos Country, coach, where baptisms can take a while and honeymoons are short. The Broncos used a methodical, just effecient-enough drive late in the fourth quarter to avoid a fourth consecutive home loss as a 52-yard field goal by Wil Lutz lifted the Broncos past the Green Bay Packers, 19-17 in a thrilling NFL interconference game on a spectacular late-October Sunday afternoon at Empower Field at Mile High.
"How clutch is Wil Lutz?'' said Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson.
Lutz was 4 of 4 in field goals, the difference considering the Packers' Anders Carlson missed from 43 late in the first half. And to think the local media was wanting Lutz cut after he missed an extra point and a 55-yard field goal in a season-opening, 1-point loss to the Raiders.
"Look, these guys are going to miss, that's part of the deal,'' Payton said. "Even the great ones. ... I like his makeup, that's why we brought him here.''
The Broncos are now 2-5 and avoided an 0-4 home start for the first time in their 64-season franchise history. And their 10-game-leading-at-half losing streak has ended. Green Bay fell to 2-4.
By halftime, the soldout crowd at Empower Field at Mile High was not exactly enthralled with the action as it was 9-0 Broncos on three short, Lutz field goals. With the temperature in the mid-70s and bright sunshine splashing the field and stands until the shadows crept in near halftime, fans through the first half may have wondered if they should have stayed home and raked leaves or washed the car.
There were 4,245 no-shows who may have had the same idea. The actual gathering of 72,635 included its share of Packer Backers (the TV broadcast reported 20,000 Packer fans).
The Broncos' halftime lead could have been larger as they had one drive reach the Packers’ 4 yard line and another to their 10. Yet, the Broncos settled for two, short field goals from Lutz and a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter.
A win is a win but it didn't inspire much confidence that a similar effort next Sunday will beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Speaking of losing streaks.
The Broncos may have to call on their inner-Vitas Gerulaitis this week. In 1980, Gerulaitis finally beat Jimmy Connors after losing 16 straight men's tennis matches to the lefty. Afterwards, Gerulaitis reportedly and famously said, "Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row!"
The Broncos have lost 16 in a row to the Chiefs. They need to pull a Vitas Gerulaitis. "Nobody beats the Denver Broncos 17 times in a row!" Right? For now, it's difficult to imagine the Broncos outpointing Patrick Mahomes after they nearly fell to a late-game rally of Packers' quarterback Jordan Love.
But that's a discussion for another day. Perhaps, tomorrow. Not today.
With the Broncos up 16-3 with 6:17 left in the third quarter, Love threw touchdown passes to Romeo Doubs later in the third (ruled a simultaneous catch with Broncos' cornerback Patrick Surtain and tie goes to the offensive player) and then low-sidearm delivery to Jayden Reed -- off a Doubs deflection -- midway through the fourth quarter to give Green Bay a 17-16 lead.
The Packers scored their go-ahead touchdown after Broncos safety Kareem Jackson was ejected for his vicious hit to the chin strap of Green Bay tight end Luke Musgrave, who was may have been deemed defenseless by officials. Jackson also drew a 15-yard for unnecessary roughness that helped the Packers' drive.
Jackson has been fined four times previously for unnecessary roughness hits this season, totaling $89,670. Even if Jackson led with his shoulder pad on Musgrave, he exploded high on the tight end and the helmet may have connected with the receiver's helmet. A suspension levied by the league office is possible, given this was his fifth-such infraction and second ejection through just seven games this season.
"I think one of the challenges for Kareem is he's got some priors,'' Payton said. "I wasn't surprised. I haven't seen a real clean shot of it. We've just got to keep finding ways to keep the head out of the main part of the hit. He's smart. He's someone who wants to do the right things so we'll work on that."
After Love's two touchdown passes, Wilson answered for the Broncos with a drive that ended close enough for Lutz to bury a go-ahead, 52-yard field goal with 3:50 remaining. Two key plays in the winning drive where completions of 7 and 16 yards to Jerry Jeudy.
With Jackson out, his backup P.J. Locke III, came up with a game-cinching interception on a deep Love pass with 1:40 remaining.
“He threw it and I didn't hesitate,'' Locke said. "I saw the ball in the air and I was like, ‘It’s mine.’”
The Broncos were able to run out the clock with the final play a deep Wilson chuck out of bounds that ate up the final 6 seconds.
Until late in the third quarter, this was a field goal game as the Broncos were 0 of 3 in the red zone. Leading 9-3 and possessing the ball at the Packers' 18, Payton came up with the right call with a well-designed, three-man combination route.
Two Broncos receivers -- Marvin Mims Jr. and tight end Adam Trautman, took off from the left side of scrimmage while Courtland Sutton wheeled in motion from right to left before setting up in the inside slot. At the snap, Sutton broke behind his two receiver teammates and then broke out towards the end zone. The Green Bay Packer cornerback covering him, Rasul Douglas, got caught up in the humanity and Sutton broke wide open.
"It definitely wasn't just myself, it required everybody,'' Sutton said. "It was really good to see a play come together, something we worked on and ... watching it come together was really nice.''
Wilson flipped the pass quickly to Sutton in the end zone for a touchdown that increased Denver's lead to 16-3 with 6:17 left in the third quarter.
"It was a man-to-man beater,'' Payton said of the play.
When Sutton went in motion, Douglas followed from the other side. That's how the Broncos knew it was man-to-man coverage. Had no defensive back followed Sutton, the Broncos would have known the Packers were in zone coverage.
As to Douglas getting caught up in the wash, Payton said: "That was part of the plan, to create the wash.''
The way the game was playing out, 16-3 seemed to be a comfortable lead. But Love answered on the next possession with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs, who wrestled with Surtain for the ball, narrowing the score to 16-10 with 1:46 left in the third quarter.
A pool report said referee Alex Kemp ruled simultaneous possession and that means a tie goes to the offense.
When the Broncos offense stalled for a three-and-out to end the third quarter, Love again engineered an 11-play, 76 yard touchdown drive. Although he did get an incredible, good luck bounce to finish the march. On fourth-and-2 from the Broncos' 4-yard line, Love drilled a pass too hard for Doubs near the goal line. The ball bounced off Doubs' hands, ricocheting toward the back of the end zone -- where Reed snagged it for the go-ahead touchdown.
It seemed like so many other Broncos losses this season. Only this time, the Broncos' offense did just enough to get in position for Lutz.
“I told the guys we just have to have a great belief,'' Wilson said of his go-ahead field goal drive. "Let's just play clean, get up and down the field and do right. ... It really started with the guys up front. They are the guys that made the difference in a close game like that.''
The Broncos ran the ball well, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. Javonte Williams started and had a game-high 82 yards off 15 carries. Rookie Jaleel McLaughlin added 45 yards on just five carries and Wilson had a 21-yard run.
Sutton led all receivers with six catches for 76 yards and a touchdown, Jeudy had five catches for 64 yards.
Wilson finished 20 of 29 for 194 yards and a touchdown.
The Denver defense, meanwhile, turned in another strong performance as it held the Packers scoreless through the first half and most of the third quarter. There was a two-series lapse, though, when the Packers started running the ball and Love was able to finish with touchdown passes.
The Broncos had to burn two defensive timeouts because of a late substitution the first time and only having 10 men of the field the second time. Payton did not hide his frustration as the timeouts were burned, seemingly directly his anger at defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
But Joseph has done a phenomenal job adjusting since the 70-point debacle in Miami. That same defense held Kansas City to 19 points last week and the Packers to 17 on Sunday.
And so Sean Payton wound up with his first home win as Broncos' head coach.
“I’ll be honest with you. Hopefully there are a lot better milestones than that,'' Payton said.
Maybe the coach can get the Broncos over the hump against the Chiefs? It doesn't seem likely as the Broncos are listed as 8.5-point home underdogs.
Bronco Bits
Embattled Broncos receiver Jerry Jeudy got in a tussle away from the ball with Green Bay cornerback Keisean Nixon on the first series. Players from both sides joined in but the play was broken up without major incident. …
Veteran corner Fabian Moreau started ahead Damarri Mathis at the position opposite Pat Surtain II. …
The Broncos inside linebackers had big days. Alex Singleton led with 11 tackles and Josey Jewell had 10. No other player had more than six tackles. ...
There was only one combined sack in the game -- and that was for zero yards against Wilson. ...
Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan watched the game from the owner's box as a guest of team CEO and owner Greg Penner. ...
Rookie cornerback Riley Moss was among the Broncos’ inactives.
Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers 19-17
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