The Broncos didn’t want this loss, but it was what they needed to know they ‘aren’t invincible’

DENVER — The Broncos needed this loss, and they needed it now.

They needed the corrective defeat, the ice-water douse of reality that provides the stern reminder that there is a finite limit on one team’s reservoir of escapes that meld the resourcefulness of MacGyver and the magic of Houdini.

That they were able to absorb a 34-20 setback to the Jacksonville Jaguars without losing control of their fate in their quest to gain the AFC West crown and home-field advantage in the conference playoff race is the privilege they earned from stringing together their longest winning streak in nearly 13 years.

They earned a mulligan in the race for the precious bye week that saves them one pull in a postseason Russian Roulette that could deal postseason duels against a cluster of teams that feature either a quarterback in the MVP conversation or a certain Hall-of-Fame invitation or a defense reaching its peak. In recent weeks, the Jaguars have two of the three, with Trevor Lawrence nudging his way into the MVP race and a defense that entered Sunday on a month-and-a-half heater.

A chance to cut the journey through the minefield down by one-third? That matters, and it’s still in the Broncos’ hands.

But now they will venture east to face the denuded Kansas City Chiefs a chastened bunch. The Jaguars shredded the Broncos’ cloak of invincibility, shrinking their margin for error to the point where any wobble would prove fatal. And by the final moments of the third quarter, when Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington left Riley Moss, Talanoa Hufanga and P.J. Locke flailing on what would prove to be a 63-yard catch-and-run, Denver finally found itself in a jam from which it couldn’t escape.

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63-yard gain for Washington 🤯

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— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 21, 2025

The Broncos had one final belch of hope in the fourth quarter, trailing by two scores with possession. But it ended with an interception off of Bo Nix.

“And I remember, like, being like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is what we do. We’re good.’ And then obviously it just didn’t come together the way it has,'” tight end Adam Trautman said.

What worked against the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Giants, the C.J. Stroud-less Houston Texans and the Green Bay Packers — all of whom were on the business end of the Broncos’ second-half magic acts — wasn’t going to pass muster against these feral cats.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a wake-up call, but it’s a thing that happens that it kind of like wakes you up, like, ‘Oh, yeah, like we aren’t invincible,'” Trautman said.

“But I mean, we’re gonna see how we respond. I obviously anticipate — and I know we’re going to respond really well because that’s what we’ve always done.”

Added defensive end John Franklin-Myers: “You gotta learn from every opportunity that you’re presented with in this league. And ultimately we’re going to get a chance to play that team again, and we’ll be better next time.”

BRONCOS GET THE GIFT OF A SHORT WEEK AND A DEFLATED FOE

The bad news for the Broncos is that they are 1-14 all-time in games played at Kansas City in Week 14 or later, including six-consecutive losses since a 20-17 win in Week 14 of the 1994 season. Overall, the Broncos are 3-20 in Kansas City in December, including a 3-17 mark at Arrowhead Stadium. It’s a late-season house of horrors, and it hasn’t mattered whether the temperatures are frosty or temperate.

But rarely have the Chiefs been more tenderized. Expected to give Chris Oladokun his first career start in the wake of back-to-back torn ACLs suffered by quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Gardner Minshew, the Chiefs appear to be lambs to the slaughter, a team paying the penance for a decade of good fortune.

All the Broncos need to do is right their ship enough to brush off the Chiefs and fix their glitches in time for the real challenge: a Los Angeles Chargers side that they haven’t beaten since Jim Harbaugh assumed their reins in 2024, and one that has successfully shrugged off a slew of injuries, including the losses of a bookend pair of tackles who are likely the league’s finest: Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt.

Harbaugh’s Chargers possess many of the same qualities as Sean Payton’s Broncos, specifically resilience and resourcefulness. That’s how they slugged their way back from their own waterfall of woe to gain a chance at the AFC West.

Now the Broncos need those traits to reaffirm their claim to superiority, which now teeters for the first time in weeks.

Within the locker room Sunday night, players had little doubt they’d handle the challenge well.

“Because that’s just what we’ve done since I’ve gotten here,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “I talked about it earlier this week, but we have a high football-character team, um, a lot of really great people, a lot of really great leaders, coaching staff included. And the only thing to go back to do after losing like this is to work harder and find ways to improve, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

Most importantly, Trautman said, they’ve done a good job of finding ways to improve when they’ve won. So, of course they’ll do the same after defeat, he reasons.

“We cover it and we talk about it, which is why we were able to sustain winning for so long,” he said.

“I think we’re going to take a hard look at it [Monday] and then, obviously, we do need to flush it because it is a short week, but I think we’re going to learn a lot from this game because that is … probably one of the AFC elites now as well. And the [Jaguars] are a good team, and we might see them again in the playoffs.

“So we just need to correct, and we’ll be ready.”

Added Franklin-Myers: “We’re going to fix these mistakes and we’re going to flush down the toilet. And honestly, it’s a short week. So, [excrement], it’s time to go.”