{"id":463568,"date":"2025-12-22T04:02:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/463568\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T04:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:02:15","slug":"broncos-11-game-winning-streak-halted-by-red-hot-jaguars-34-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/463568\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos’ 11-game winning streak halted by red-hot Jaguars, 34-20"},"content":{"rendered":"

For quite a while Sunday, this Broncos<\/a> game looked and felt like so many others over the past three months.<\/p>\n

When rookie running back RJ Harvey<\/a> broke into the open field early in the third quarter, dove to the left pylon and drew Denver even with Jacksonville, a familiar jolt flowed through Empower Field at Mile High.<\/p>\n

Another close game. This team lives in those. It\u2019s their habitat, head coach Sean Payton said just a week before. The 2025 Broncos? They win these games.<\/p>\n

They hadn\u2019t dropped one like it since September.<\/p>\n

Over the final 27 minutes, 59 seconds against Jacksonville, however, that all changed.<\/p>\n

\n

Broncos four downs: Vance Joseph\u2019s Orange Crush defense shamed by Jaguars at home<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At last a team stood toe-to-toe with Denver and landed the knockout punch.<\/p>\n

At last somebody built a lead the Broncos couldn’t overcome.<\/p>\n

At last Denver\u2019s 11-game winning streak came to a crashing halt.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville and quarterback Trevor Lawrence did to Sean Payton\u2019s team what nobody had been able to for three months to the day.<\/p>\n

They scored 17 straight points in 9:08 of game time across the third and fourth quarters and built a lead even Denver\u2019s group of comeback artists couldn\u2019t close, stamping a 34-20 loss on the Broncos with authority and throwing the doors open on the race for the AFC West and the conference\u2019s top seed.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of this process is not fooling ourselves. They beat us tonight,\u201d Payton said he told his team postgame after its first home loss since Oct. 13, 2024. \u201cThey beat us good in all three areas and it starts with me.\u00a0 Even though that hurts going down, you can\u2019t spit it out. You have to swallow it. That\u2019s the truth. They beat us in all three areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to coach better. We have to look at what we\u2019re doing. We have to make sure we\u2019re not doing too much and we have to do that all on a quick turnaround. So that\u2019s kind of how I saw that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos woke up Sunday morning with a path, albeit an unlikely one, to clinching not only the division but also the No. 1 seed if they could find their 12th straight win.<\/p>\n

Instead, both goals remain unfulfilled for Payton\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but Denver cannot accomplish either Christmas nlght in Kansas City. Any finality in the division will have to wait until at least Saturday. If the Los Angeles Chargers win that day against Houston, then Week 18 between the Broncos and Chargers at Empower Field will determine who takes the crown from the Chiefs after their nine-year reign.<\/p>\n

In terms of the conference, Denver (12-3) now sits just a game ahead of a group of contenders that includes Jacksonville, Buffalo, New England and the division-rival Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never fun to lose, but if you were to spin it a way, you can say that it\u2019s an opportunity for us to refocus and tap back into what got us into the position to be able to be at 11 (straight),\u201d veteran receiver Courtland Sutton said. \u201cWinning the games at home and all that stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cUs having two big games coming up going into playoffs, you could look at it as a refocus opportunity for us to move forward going into these last few games and rolling into playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denver still controls its own path. Win the next two, and the top seed is theirs. What is different now, though, is the Chargers can say the same thing about the AFC West. Two wins and it’s theirs. What is gone, then, is any margin for error for the Broncos unless Jim Harbaugh’s team also falters.<\/p>\n

\"TrevorTrevor Lawrence (16) of the Jacksonville Jaguars celebrates rushing for a touchdown against the Denver Broncos during the third quarter at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

It evaporated into abnormally warm December air on the Front Range because all the Broncos\u2019 bugaboos — yes, even 12-win teams that mount massive winning streaks have them \u2014 showed up in succession and first-year coach Liam Coen\u2019s team punished them.<\/p>\n

Denver arrived to Week 16 as the NFL\u2019s most penalized team and paid a heavier cost than 61 yards on six infractions Sunday. Two of them — an early game personal foul on P.J. Locke for leveling Lawrence when he didn\u2019t hear the play get blown dead and a pass interference on rookie corner Jahdae Barron \u2014 immediately preceded Jacksonville touchdowns.<\/p>\n

The Broncos have surrendered yardage to tight ends and running backs in the passing game consistently this season, a relative weakness made more vulnerable by the recent losses of safety Brandon Jones (pectoral) and inside linebacker Justin Strnad (foot) to injury.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, tight end Brenton Strange and running back Travis Etienne each caught touchdowns.<\/p>\n

The Broncos roared to 12-2 despite a negative turnover differential but went minus-2 against Jacksonville, which now tied for third in the NFL at plus-12 in that department.<\/p>\n

\n

Broncos WR Pat Bryant hospitalized after late-game hit vs. Jaguars<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Over the past five games the Broncos have allowed opposing quarterbacks to average 267.6 yards per game and throw for nine touchdowns against four interceptions. They put Green Bay away a week ago thanks in part to a pair of picks against quarterback Jordan Love, but the well went dry against Lawrence, who has now thrown 14 touchdowns without an interception in Jacksonville’ s now six-game winning streak.<\/p>\n

All of that combined to put Denver in a vulnerable position against Jacksonville and then two uncharacteristic faults ensured the afternoon ended in frustrating fashion.<\/p>\n

First, the Jaguars scored four touchdowns in the red zone against a Broncos defense that entered allowing touchdowns at a league-low 38.5%. Jacksonville became the first team to score four times in the red zone against Denver at home since New England on Nov. 12, 2017.<\/p>\n

\"TravisTravis Etienne Jr. (1) of the Jacksonville Jaguars charges ahead against the Denver Broncos during the fourth quarter of the Jaguars\u2019 34-20 win at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s defense also struggled to tackle. Parker Washington alone racked up 90 of his 145 yards after the catch, including on a field-tilting 63-yard gain one play before Lawrence hit Etienne to put the visitors up 31-17 late in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe missed a lot of tackles today,\u201d inside linebacker Alex Singleton said. \u201cJust little, tiny things that got us to where we are. We\u2019re a 12-win team. I\u2019m not going to sit here and let you guys (expletive) on our parade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two games to go be the No. 1 seed in the AFC.\u201d<\/p>\n

That number could have been one or even zero.<\/p>\n

Instead, the streak is over and the postseason race is on.<\/p>\n

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For quite a while Sunday, this Broncos game looked and felt like so many others over the past…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":463569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[109930,5229,115718,32525,115719,4439,51378,8605,8999,3188,723,4440,7310,39692,37146,29351,172505,1370,32533,1232,115726,32534,62,43010,9076,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-463568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-alex-singleton","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-brandon-jones","11":"tag-broncos","12":"tag-broncos-defense","13":"tag-colorado","14":"tag-courtland-sutton","15":"tag-denver","16":"tag-denver-broncos","17":"tag-fl","18":"tag-florida","19":"tag-front-range","20":"tag-jacksonville","21":"tag-jahdae-barron","22":"tag-jim-harbaugh","23":"tag-jordan-love","24":"tag-justin-strnad","25":"tag-latest-headlines","26":"tag-more-broncos-news","27":"tag-nfl","28":"tag-p-j-locke","29":"tag-sean-payton","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-sun-valley","32":"tag-trevor-lawrence","33":"tag-united-states","34":"tag-united-states-of-america","35":"tag-unitedstates","36":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","37":"tag-us","38":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115761234077528181","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}