Broncos’ playoff hopes on hold after 30-24 loss to Bengals in overtime

CINCINNATI — Come on, Andy Reid.

Give Patrick Mahomes a rest. And while you’re at it, sit Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and Isiah Pacheco, too.

The Broncos, who once had to win only one of their final three games to clinch their first playoff spot in 9 years, now may need to beat the 15-1 Kansas City Chiefs next weekend in the season finale. Losing to the Chargers last week, the Broncos lost a heartbreaker to the Cincinnati Bengals, 30-24, in overtime here on a cloudy but dry and warm Saturday afternoon before more than 66,000 fans at Paycor Stadium.

“You can’t have huge triumphs without incredible losses,” said a philosophical Mike McGlinchey, the Broncos’ right tackle. “There is no good without the bad. This league tends to humble ya. Guys who have been in the league a long time, certainly coach (Sean Payton) have been in our share of heartbreaks. That’s just what football does.

“But this makes when we climb the mountain that much sweeter. To be a winner, to be in a winning culture you’ve got to win and lose with class and grace and be able to learn from what went wrong and figure out how to never let it happen again and that’s what we’re going to do.”

OK, fine. Good attitudes and philosophies. But the Broncos need a win and with the playoffs on the line, they got all kinds of breaks against a Bengals team that at one point was 4-8 this year and still couldn’t win.

A 3-yard touchdown pass from Joe Burrow to Tee Higgins with 1:07 left in overtime won it for the Bengals and put the 2024 Broncos in jeopardy of joining the 2008 Broncos as the only teams in NFL history to have a three-game lead with three games remaining and miss the playoffs.

After blowing a 21-10 lead last week against the Chargers, after wasting so many momentum changes to their favor against the Bengals, the noose has tightened on the Broncos, no matter what they say and no matter that the Chiefs have already clinched the No. 1 playoff seed and would have good reason to sit their most important players in the season finale.

Players in the losing locker room were asked if they’re going to feel pressure this week.

“No. Nope,” said defensive lineman Zach Allen, who was outstading in defeat with 3.5 sacks and 6 hits on Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow in defeat. “Just get back in on Monday and start the week over again and beat Kansas City.”

Burrow finished 39 of 49 for 412 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. He was sacked 7 times — 3.5 by Allen. But Burrow is obviously type who is unfazed by getting knocked around.

“Joe’s elite for a reason,” Allen said. “It’s pretty hard not to say he is if not the top, if not top quarterback. There’s a reason why he got to the Super Bowl a couple years ago, won big playoff games. Give him credit. He’s a gamer.”

Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix finished 24 of 31 for 219 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for 31 yards.

Nix threw a touchdown pass to Marvin Mims with 8 seconds remaining in regulation to bring Denver to 24-23. Go for 2 and end the suspension right there? Go for 2 could have also meant a loss when an overtime tie also meant the Broncos would have made the playoffs.

Head coach Sean Payton kicked the game-tying extra point but it didn’t work out in overtime — even with Bengals’ kicker Cade York clanking a gimme field goal in overtime.

“I’m going to answer this now,” Payton said in his opening postgame remarks. “Going for two, we knew a tie for us was beneficial. We felt like we had the momentum at that point. We went back and forth and in the end we didn’t make enough plays, they did.”

 Now the Broncos will probably have to beat a Chiefs team that may sit its good guys since it has already clinched the No. 1 AFC playoff seed.

The Broncos lost one game when their 35-yard field goal was blocked on the final play of the game.

Perhaps, the football gods, or life’s natural balances, helped even out the bad break.

With 2:49 left in overtime, the Bengals needed a simple, 33-yard field goal to walk-off the Broncos for a 27-24, season-extending victory.

Cade York hooked it. He hit the left upright and it bounced back, no good.

After 9 years without a playoff berth, the Broncos could wait a few minutes more.

Only one problem. The Broncos’ offense, boom-or-bust all game, went bust with a three-and-out while Bengals coach Zac Taylor used his two overtime timeouts.

The Bengals and Joe Burrow got the ball back at their own 37 with 2:20 remaining. A tie would have sent the Broncos to the playoffs as well as a win.

Burrow hit Andrei Iosivas for 16 yards. Khalil Herbert ran for 13. The Bengals were in long-distance field goal range. Not good enough for Burrow. He went deep down the left sideline for Higgins, who appeared to beat cornerback Riley Moss again. This went for 31 yards setting up first and goal at the 3.

Burrow then threw a touchdown pass to Higgins in the left corner of the end zone. Touchdown. Bengals win, 30-24.

The Broncos are now 9-7 while the Bengals are 8-8. The Broncos’ playoff hopes are now down to defeating the 15-1 Chiefs next weekend at Empower Field at Mile High.

As the game opened up in the second half, both offenses hitting high gear, the fast-break style came down to the host Bengals having one of the best veteran quarterbacks in the game in Burrow and the Broncos having a rookie quarterback, albeit a good one, in Nix.

Mature and poised as Nix is for his youth, the advantage went to Burrow and the Bengals.

With the scored tied and less than 3 minutes remaining in regulation, Nix threw a midfield interception trying to pick up a third-and-15. Burrow answered on the next play to find an open Ja’Marr Chase in the middle of the field for a 38-yard gain that moved the Bengals into field goal range.

Burrow finished off the drive with a 1-yard sneak for touchdown and the Bengals took a 24-17 lead with 1:29 remaining.

Nix had one last chance. Getting the ball at his own 30 following a touchback, Nix scrambled for 7, then made back-to-back, pinpoint completions to Courtland Sutton for 14 and 15 yards. The Broncos had the ball at the Bengals’ 34 but the clock was ticking inside a minute.

It became fourth and 1 at the Bengals’ 25 with 14 seconds remaining. Nix scrambled right away from pressure. He heaved it deep into the end zone towards Marvin Mims, who earlier in the fourth quarter caught a 51-yard deep toss from Nix.

This time Mims was double-covered but he outwrestled two defenders for the ball and came down with it in the end zone for a touchdown with 8 seconds remaining.

Go for two? Payton decided to play for overtime. Wil Lutz made the extra point and it was 24-24 with seconds remaining in regulation.

A win would clinch a playoff spot for the Broncos. A win by the Bengals would bring the No. 7 AFC playoff spot down to next week’s regular-season final.

Here’s a recap:

Nix faked the handoff to running back Audric Estime, rolled right, set up near his own 40 yard line, and heaved a spiraling sphere nearly 60 yards in the air.

Running under it in the far end zone, a couple steps clear of his defender, was Broncos receiver Marvin Mims II, who caught it for a game-tying touchdown.

The normally methodical Broncos were scoring fast while the normally quick-striking Bengals were moving slow and the two teams fighting for the AFC’s final playoff spot were tied, 17-17 with 8:48 left in regulation.

Frustrated all game long by the Denver defense once they got deep in Broncos territory, the Bengals broke through early in the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass from Burrow to Higgins.

Although the Broncos returned Riley Moss, the Bengals were not impressed. They picked on the cornerback repeatedly as Moss was coming back from an MCL strain that had sidelined him for four weeks.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Bengals were leading the Broncos, 17-10 before 66,546 fans on a cloudy but dry late December afternoon at Paycor Stadium.

The Broncos played a rare Saturday afternoon game with the goal of snapping their 9-year playoff drought. The Bengals, though, had won three in a row and were still in the postseason hunt with a 7-8 record and needing to beat the 9-6 Broncos to bring the season down to its final game next Sunday. Win and the Broncos were in the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 7 seed while the Bengals would be eliminated. It all came down to the fourth quarter.

Then came the Nix pass to Mims to tie it, 17-17.

The Bengals moved it to midfield, but after Burrow hit Higgins for a first down, Broncos star cornerback Pat Surtain II stripped him of the ball for a fumble. Surtain recovered and after a Broncos challenge replay overturned the initial incomplete ruling, the Broncos had the ball at their own 40 with 5:08 remaining.

On third and 4, Nix scrambled for 5 yards. First down in Cincinnati territory and 3:37 remaining. But a screen pass to running back Javonte Williams was sniffed out by the Bengals’ defense and it lost 6 yards.

On third and long, Nix was intercepted by linebacker Germaine Pratt. The Bengals had the ball at their own 41 with 2:38 remaining.

On the first play, Burrow stepped up in the pocket and hit top receiver Ja’Marr Chase sitting down in the middle of the zone. Chase was so open, he was able to keep running until he had a 38-yard gain to the Denver 21-yard line.

There was but 2 minutes remaining.

The Bengals had a chance to run out the clock — at least burn all the Broncos’ timeouts — but running back Chase Brown went out of bounds on one play and Burrow wound up scoring his touchdown on second down, instead of taking a knee.

Nix finished regulation 22 of 27 for 217 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Burrow was 32 of 42 for 315 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions but was sacked seven times — 3.5 by Allen.

Because Payton chose to take the ball instead of defer after winning the opening coin toss, the Bengals got the ball first. They chewed up nearly 6 minutes and used 11 plays and a pass interference penalty against slot corner Ja’Quan McMillian to set up first and goal. But despite having six plays from inside the Broncos’ 9-yard line, the Bengals couldn’t get it in the end zone, settling for a 22-yard field goal by Cade York.

That put the Bengals up, 10-3.

And then finally, the Broncos’ offense got going behind their rushing attack. Jaleel McLaughlin, back after missing the previous week’s game at the Los Angeles Chargers with a quad injury, had carries of 11, 11 and 13 yards on their first possession of the second half.

That set up first and goal at the 8.

After a set-up run by McLaughlin, Nix lofted a perfect pass to the right side of the end zone and connected with Courtland Sutton for a 6-yard touchdown. That tied the game, 10-10 with 3:10 remaining in the quarter.

At that point, Nix was 13 of 16 for 91 yards with the touchdown and no interceptions. He also had 19 yards rushing off five carries. McLaughlin had 61 yards on seven carries to that point.

From midway through the second quarter on, the Broncos started bringing heavy pressure on Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. He was sacked three times through the third quarter with Zach Allen and Jonathon Cooper each having 1.5.

The Bengals appeared to take the lead on a 58-yard touchdown pass from Burrow to receiver Andrei Iosivas but it was nullified when tight end Mike Gesicki was flagged for an illegal shift.

That brought up third and 13, but Burrow scrambled for 19 yards on the final play of the third quarter. The Bengals had first down at the Broncos’ 36 to start the fourth quarter.

There are plans that work, and some that end up blotched.

The Broncos didn’t want to get into a high-scoring, fast-break type game with the potent Bengals. And indeed, the halftime score was a surprisingly low, 7-3 Bengals.

But the reason why Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and the Bengals were kept off the scoreboard until inside the 2-minute warning was because of their own methodical offensive play against a bend-but-don’t-break Denver defense.

The Bengals held the ball for nearly 18 minutes of the 30-minute half – including one drive in the second quarter that took more than 9 minutes but resulted in no points as the Denver defense came up with a first-and-goal stand from the 1.

But the Broncos’ offense, perhaps rusty from inactivity, followed with a three and out and the Bengals were more efficient in their following drive, needing just 7 plays to go 62 yards with Burrow hitting No. 2 receiver Tee Higgins for a 5-yard go-ahead touchdown with 1:52 remaining in the half.

Nix was 10 of 12 for 68 yards at the half, but 3 points was not a solid effort against a Bengals’ defense that ranked 28th in the 32-team league. Nix also had 17 yards rushing on four carries. Rookie Devaughn Vele had two catches for 27 yards.

Burrow was 15 of 20 at the half for 121 yards and a touchdown. Ja’Marr Chase, who entered the game as the Triple Crown leader in the top receiving categories, had just two catches for 20 yards and dropped a touchdown pass.

The return of Broncos cornerback Moss after missing the previous three games wasn’t going so well. The Bengals were picking on him to the point he was called for pass interference in the end zone, setting up first-and-goal at the 1.

But the Denver defense held. Burrow missed tight end Mike Gesicki at the goal line with a wide throw. Running back Chase Brown was stuffed for a 1-yard loss. Chase dropped a third-down touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone after he worked free of Moss’s coverage.

And then on fourth and goal from the 2, Burrow couldn’t find anyone open, held on to the ball for an extra second or two, and was smothered from behind by Broncos’ hustling outside linebacker Jonathan Cooper for a 3-yard sack.

The Bengals’ drive lasted 9 minutes and 14 seconds – and they got zero points.

It was the second time in the half they passed up a short field goal only to turn it over on downs deep in Broncos’ territory.

The Broncos had the ball for just 3 minutes and 2 seconds in the second quarter.  

The strategy by Broncos head coach Sean Payton against the high-powered Bengals was to control the pace of the game, so much so he took the ball first after winning the opening coin toss for only the second time this year. The first time was Game 3 at Tampa Bay. That worked out well as the Broncos, who started 0-2, scored a touchdown on the opening drive and won easily, 26-7.

Again, Nix and the running game was effective on the opening drive, although a third-and-2 pass to Sutton in the end zone never had a chance and the Broncos had to settle for a 30-yard field goal by Wil Lutz.

The Bengals answered behind quarterback Burrow, who moved to the Broncos’ 22, but a fourth-and-1 give to upback Chase Brown was stuffed for no gain and the Broncos took over on downs.

McLaughlin rushed for 12 yards on the first play of the game, and started the second series with a 9-yard gain.

Nix was 5 of 6 for 40 yards in the quarter. McLaughlin had the two series-starting carries for 21 yards.

McLaughlin’s replacement last week, rookie Blake Watson, was inactive. …

The Broncos elevated two players from their practice squad – defensive lineman Matt Henningson and receiver David Sills – for the game against the Bengals, but then both veterans were on the inactive list. They did get a 53-man roster game check, or about a $43,000 or so bump from their weekly practice squad salary. …

Three Broncos were fined by the league for infractions committed during the Broncos’ game last week at the Chargers: Defensive tackle Malcolm Roach was fined $11,255 for taunting; outside linebacker Jonathan Cooper was docked $12,668 for horse collaring Justin Herbert, and Watson was penalized $4,463 for use of helmet.