It came down to the last play to decide the winner of an already overtime game on Sunday Night Football. Although the game was decided by one point, there was a stark difference between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Even with an improved offensive performance, led by second-year quarterback Bo Nix, it was the defensive heroics of linebacker Nik Bonitto that saved the game early Monday morning for the Broncos.

The Washington Commanders opted for a two-point conversion to end the game instead of tying with an extra point. Isolated one-on-one and charging at quarterback Marcus Mariota, Nik Bonitto made a perfectly timed leap into the air to block a pass intended for a wide-open Jeremy McNichols in the end zone to end the game.

Pandemonium rang out with a heavily populated Denver fan base at Washington’s stadium, while the Broncos players stormed the field in celebration. The Broncos had won 27-26, to take their fourth consecutive win by three points or less, in keeping with their proclivity for nail-biting finishes.

Broncos’ Head Coach Sean Payton, when asked if he takes winning close games as a good thing or as a bad thing, and that they aren’t winning more decisively, responded,  “Listen, this is – this is pick a Super Bowl team. And I say that respectfully, and then go look at that season. I mean, look at it honestly.

And I can go back through, you know, the six or seven playoff teams or really good teams. You begin to build some momentum. Yeah, there are some things you want to clean up, but just take a peek at any one of them. You know, every once in a while, you get one of those teams that just rolls right through it all, but it’s a tough league.”

In what has become its own brand of football, the Denver Broncos’ victory became their ninth straight win, making them the first team in NFL history to do so after trailing in each of those wins. After the overtime win against the Washington Commanders on Sunday Night Football, Denver stood alone atop the entire NFL with the best overall record at 10-2.

Registering one sack in the game, in addition to his game-saving pass block, linebacker Nik Bonitto echoed Sean Payton’s assessment of the season the Broncos are having. Bonitto passed the double-digit mark for sacks this season with 10 for the second consecutive year.

“Yeah, I mean, and even if you look across the league this week, I mean, a lot of the teams that were supposed to win those games lost a lot of them,” said Bonitto after the game. “You know, that’s what the championship teams are going to find ways to win, and we did that today, so we’re not going to take any wins for granted. We know this was a game that, you know, we wanted to win, and we found a way.”  

The game was originally scheduled to pair the top two quarterbacks from the class of 2024 against each other, but instead wound up being the Bo Nix show, with Jayden Daniels watching as a spectator. The game was not flexed out of the prime-time slot by the NFL, despite the Broncos’ newfound, standalone success, while the Commanders fell to seven straight losses. Still keeping pace, Washington pushed the game to overtime in a seesaw battle that went down to the last do-or-die play for the final outcome.

The NFL still got its top-rated Sunday Night Football thriller, even without the intended quarterback showcase. Washington backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, the second overall draft pick from 2015, filled in for the injured Jayden Daniels with an admirable showing. He finished with the most rushing yards in the game with 55, adding two passing touchdowns for 294 yards.

But it was Bo Nix who stole the show with one of his best performances of the season. Nix topped all quarterbacks in the NFL for Week 13 with 321 yards passing - Mariota was fourth. Leaning heavily on Nix, the Broncos passed the ball 45 times and ran 23 times for 87 yards rushing. Washington had 144 yards on the ground.

“There’s something special, but we also feel like there’s more in the tank,” Bo Nix told the Denver Sports Report after the game. “We also feel like there’s more to grow from. As much as we feel like we’ve had success, there are a lot of guys in that locker room who are eager to perform better. We know that there’s a higher ceiling that we could play up to, and that’s what we’re gonna continue to practice hard to do and continue to work.

We spend a lot of time up at the practice facility doing a lot of different things. That work’s gonna continue. We’re close, and we’re close, and we’re close, and we really enjoy winning these close games. You definitely don’t wanna lose them. You wanna start winning a little bit bigger and putting opponents away the best you can.”

For Week 14, the Broncos will stay on the road heading for Las Vegas to meet with the Raiders. It will be their second meeting in the past four games, with the Broncos barely getting by in their previous matchup on Thursday Night Football, 10-7. See the Broncos - Commanders game photo gallery at www.SportsReportNet.com.