A madhouse at Empower Field was treated to one of the most thrilling matchups of Denver’s season on Sunday, as the Broncos’ offense hummed in a 34-26 win over the Green Bay Packers to extend Denver’s 11-game winning streak. Here’s The Denver Post’s report card:
**OFFENSE – A**
Welcome to the best game of quarterback Bo Nix‘s young career in Denver. The Broncos’ offense hung another zero in the first quarter against the Packers, as head coach Sean Payton tried to establish the run to little avail. Two Denver drives went dead, and the Broncos found themselves in another third-and-medium situation on their third drive of the game after a couple of short gains from rookie RB RJ Harvey.
But then Nix took over.
The QB said after last Sunday’s game against the Raiders that he was seeing the field well over his last three games. This Sunday proved something of a heat check. He orchestrated two pristine second-quarter touchdown drives, capping off the second with a perfectly placed short laser to Lil’Jordan Humphrey.
Nix fully shed any signs of an early-season straightjacket in the third quarter, zipping sideline-to-sideline for Houdini-esque first-down completions to Humphrey and Troy Franklin before hitting Sutton in the back of the end zone for his third touchdown of the game.
Nix dunked the cherry on top of the best NFL performance of his career late in the third quarter, with a 23-yard touchdown dart to Troy Franklin. The final line on Nix’s night: 23-of-34, 303 yards, four touchdowns, no picks.
**DEFENSE – C+**
Surprisingly, the game morphed into a Mile-High shootout in Denver, as the Packers exposed lingering flaws in defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s secondary throughout the first three quarters.
Quietly, the Commanders and Raiders picked on Broncos linebackers and safety Talanoa Hufanga in coverage across two previous Denver wins. And Packers head coach Matt LaFleur went right after those same matchups.
Quarterback Jordan Love was surgical in a near-pristine first half: 17-of-22 for 215 yards. Green Bay’s lone first-half score came when the Packers got linebacker Dre Greenlaw matched up one-on-one against Josh Jacobs and Love lofted a touchdown ball on third-and-14.
Denver’s pass-rush got going in the second half, though, after finishing a few hands shy of pressuring Love consistently in the first half. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain provided the game-flipping play with the Broncos down 24-14 in the third quarter: a miraculous full-extension diving pick on a go-ball to receiver Christian Watson.
CB2 Riley Moss earned a shining moment of redemption in the fourth quarter. After a key—and questionable—defensive pass-interference call early in the second half, he snagged a tip-ball interception.
The Broncos also sacked Love twice on a last-gasp fourth-quarter drive, as Joseph’s unit again did enough to win.
**SPECIAL TEAMS – A-**
Sunday’s game was crazy by all accounts. This was the most sober area.
Darren Rizzi’s unit hasn’t wavered for about a month since a rough early-season stretch. Having All-Pro returner Marvin Mims Jr. back healthy helps, too, as Mims sped for a 37-yard kick return in Sunday’s game—a week after the first punt-return touchdown of his career.
Rookie punter Jeremy Crawshaw doinked both of his two punts inside the 20-yard line. Shining marks here.
**COACHING – A-**
On Friday, Payton acknowledged his Broncos’ offense wasn’t quite thriving on explosive plays, pointing to “understanding the current players” he had on his roster and “understanding what it takes to win each game. It’s different right now, offensively,” Payton said, speaking of his former high-powered days in New Orleans. “And in a good way.”
It wasn’t much different, though, on Sunday.
With Nix operating like a seasoned veteran and the Broncos’ receivers winning their matchups handily with the Packers’ defensive backs, Payton’s play-sheet hummed for most of the afternoon.
Denver averaged 6.0 yards per play and was money in the red zone, finishing off all four of its drives from inside the Packers’ 20-yard line.
Payton might have pushed in a few too many of his chips in the fourth quarter, going for it on a fourth-and-3 around midfield up eight points and coming up short. Otherwise, the Broncos’ head coach is clicking right along with his second-year quarterback.
https://www.denverpost.com/2025/12/14/broncos-packers-report-card-week-15-bo-nix/
