Game three for the Broncos is set for Sunday at 2:05 PM MT at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California, where the weather is expected to be 84 degrees and sunny. It marks the second straight road game for Denver and its first divisional matchup of the season, facing the 2-0 Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers have already taken down two AFC West opponents—beating the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs 27-21 in the opener in São Paulo, Brazil, and handling the Raiders 20-9 on Monday Night Football.

“Division games are important because if you’re able to win one, then your division opponent loses one,” said Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton. “I can’t do the analytics or the math, but ultimately it’s an AFC opponent. It’s our first opportunity to play a division team and a team that’s playing well. I don’t think it changes in preparation… Certainly, the division games are really important.”

And that importance is magnified now more than ever, after the Broncos let last week’s game slip right through their fingers in a 29-28 heartbreaker against the Indianapolis Colts.

“We gave ourselves every chance to win the game, and then at the end we just shot ourselves in the foot,” said quarterback Bo Nix. “And good teams bounce back from that. Great teams don’t do that. They don’t beat themselves. So we’re growing and developing, we’re still holding as a team. We got a long season ahead of us and can’t let this loss turn into two.”

Bo Nix rebounded from a quiet season debut with a hot start, throwing for three touchdowns in the first half alone. He connected with Marvin Mims, Jr. for a 23-yard strike, then found Troy Franklin for a 3-yard score and Adam Trautman on a 2-yard toss in the end zone. Nix looked sharp, but it wasn’t enough.

Running back J.K. Dobbins added a 5-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter—his second in as many games—finishing with 76 rushing yards on 14 carries. Rookie RJ Harvey contributed eight yards on eight carries and caught one pass for 16 yards.

Troy Franklin led all Broncos receivers with eight catches for 89 yards. But outside of him, it was quiet: Courtland Sutton had just one six-yard catch, and tight end Evan Engram only recorded one grab for 12 yards.

Still, despite the offensive output, the Broncos couldn’t close it out—and the special teams let them down when it mattered most.

“It’s disappointing,” said right tackle Mike McGlinchey. “Obviously, you just have to – everybody’s got to look in the mirror and figure out what they can do better to help the team get over the hump. There’s no way we should have lost that game... Coach (Sean Payton) said it best – you’ve got to learn to win. But in order to do that, you’ve got to stop losing.”

After a defensive showcase in Week 1 where Denver didn’t allow a single touchdown, the defense flipped the script. The Colts racked up 473 yards of offense, and running back Jonathan Taylor ran wild for 165 yards. He was later named AFC Player of the Week for his performance. Rookie tight end Tyler Warren also shone for Indianapolis, leading their receivers with four catches for 79 yards. For the second straight game, the Colts’ offense never had to punt.

“If this game came down to one play, we would just do that one play and all go home. It would save a lot of guys a lot of grit and effort and a lot of pain from playing the full game,” Nix said after the loss. “You could talk about my interception, you could talk about the field goal, you could talk about a missed opportunity on one of the drives we went three-and-out and couldn’t get points... it’s a whole game that comes down to a few key moments.”

One of those moments? A missed 42-yard field goal by veteran kicker Wil Lutz, which hit the upright and bounced out late in the fourth quarter. That gave the Colts a final chance—and they made the most of it.

The Broncos looked like they had dodged a bullet when Colts kicker Spencer Shrader missed a 60-yard field goal attempt as time expired. The ball fell short and to the right, and Broncos fans let out a sigh of relief—until they saw the yellow flag on the field.

Dondrea Tillman, a lineman on special teams, was flagged for leverage—a penalty for using a teammate or opponent to gain height in an attempt to block the kick. That 15-yard infraction moved the Colts into manageable range, and Shrader nailed the 45-yard attempt with no time left, sealing the 29-28 win. The Colts went from heartbreak to jubilation, hoisting their kicker onto their shoulders as the stunned Broncos walked off the field in disbelief.

Had Tillman simply done nothing, Shrader’s original attempt would have been nowhere close—he had never hit from 60 yards before. Instead, his mistake handed the Colts another shot—and this time, they didn’t miss.

‍