ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — As teams across the NFL begin to turn their attention toward a new season, we're taking one last look back at the Broncos' historic campaign.
The Broncos matched a franchise record with 14 regular-season wins, and they tallied 12 one-score victories en route to the No. 1 seed and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game.
With 15 total victories to decide between, it was far from easy to select the top five games of the season. Ultimately, the DenverBroncos.com staff weighed the importance of each game, the drama that accompanied the contest and more.
Read on for a look at DenverBroncos.com's list of the top five games of 2025:
Honorable mention: Broncos 27, Commanders 26 (OT)
Entering the "Sunday Night Football" matchup, this game didn't have quite as much juice as it would have with Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels facing off. The battered Commanders entered the matchup at just 3-8, and Denver was a heavy favorite to improve to 10-2. But in prime time, it took everything the Broncos had to get the win. The game featured a physics-defying touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Courtland Sutton, a go-ahead overtime touchdown drive and a goal-line stand on a two-point conversion by Nik Bonitto to seal the victory. The back-and-forth football game featured plenty of big plays and went down to the final snap to decide the outcome.
5. Broncos 34, Packers 26
Ahead of this Week 15 showdown, you would have been hard-pressed to find two hotter teams in the league. Denver entered the game on a 10-game winning streak, while Green Bay had won four straight — and seven of its last nine matchups. The game felt like a potential Super Bowl preview, and it delivered. Nix threw four touchdown passes, Pat Surtain II delivered an absurdly athletic interception that swung the game and Denver raced back from a 23-14 second-half deficit to earn a statement win. In an impressive sophomore campaign by Nix, this was among his finest performances. Denver's defense, meanwhile, flustered a potent Packers offense and allowed just one touchdown on five red-zone opportunities.
4. Broncos 22, Chiefs 19
It's easy, in retrospect, to forget how important this game was to Denver's season. With a late-season injury to Patrick Mahomes and some close losses, Kansas City ultimately faded and missed the postseason for the first time in more than a decade. But when these two teams met in Week 11, the outcome was critical to Denver's AFC West hopes. With the Broncos at 8-2 and the Chiefs at 5-4, a Kansas City win would've moved the Chiefs to within one game of the division lead with a tiebreak in hand. The Broncos made sure that didn't happen, courtesy of big plays — including a 70-yard punt return by Marvin Mims Jr. and a Ja'Quan McMillian interception — and an eventual fourth-quarter comeback. After the Chiefs took a 19-16 lead on a Travis Kelce touchdown in the fourth quarter, Denver held defensively and tied the game with a field goal. A third-down McMillian sack on the Chiefs' ensuing drive gave Denver the ball back with a chance to take the lead, and Kansas City never touched the ball again. Keyed by a third-and-15 conversion to Courtland Sutton and a 32-yard pass from Nix to Troy Franklin with 54 seconds remaining, the Broncos got into position for a 35-yard field goal. Coincidentally, it was the exact length of the game-winning attempt that got blocked in Kansas City in 2024. This time, the Broncos knocked the field goal through, and Denver took firm control of the AFC West.
3. Broncos 33, Giants 32
This game didn't pit two eventual playoff teams against each other, but the drama and late-game heroics vaulted it up our list. On the heels of a trip to London, the Broncos trailed 19-0 entering the fourth quarter against a 2-4 Giants team — and Denver seemed poised to suffer an ugly loss on a weekend in which the organization honored the 10-year anniversary of the Super Bowl 50 season and Demaryius Thomas' induction into the Ring of Fame. Denver needed a bit of Mile High Magic to avert disaster, and the Broncos found that as they roared to a 33-point fourth quarter. Bo Nix threw touchdown passes to Troy Franklin and RJ Harvey and added a touchdown run, and Justin Strnad's interception loomed large in Denver's comeback attempt. With 1:51 to play, another Nix touchdown run pushed Denver in front — but the game was far from over. Aided by a pass interference call, the Giants marched down the field and scored with 37 seconds to play to retake the lead. After a valiant effort, it appeared the Broncos might fall short. But then the Giants missed the ensuing extra point, and the Broncos had life. Nix hit Marvin Mims Jr. for 29 yards and then delivered a pass to Sutton — on a play that was installed just a day earlier — to set up a game-winning 39-yard field goal from Wil Lutz. Nix became the first player in NFL history to throw for two touchdowns and rush for two touchdowns in a fourth quarter, while the Broncos set a franchise record for the most points in a quarter. Teams trailing by 18 points with six minutes to play had lost their last 1,608 games. The Broncos snapped that streak and earned a miracle win.
2. Broncos 21, Eagles 17
The Broncos' first fourth-quarter comeback of the season — which ultimately included six such wins — was also a statement about what Denver could accomplish. In a road matchup against the undefeated defending Super Bowl champions, the Broncos rallied from a 17-3 fourth-quarter deficit by scoring 18 unanswered points in the final frame. The kick-starting win over the Eagles didn't come easy, as Denver made the daring decision to go for a two-point conversion and the lead in the fourth quarter and had to survive a Hail Mary attempt to secure the win. Throughout the season, the Broncos' coaching staff and players referred back to the win as a turning point — and it represented a change in fortune in close games. Before the Week 5 win, the Broncos had posted a 2-8 mark in their last 10 one-score games dating back to the start of 2024. Beginning with the victory over Philadelphia, the Broncos won 11 consecutive one-score games to push them all the way to the AFC Championship Game.
1. Broncos 33, Bills 30 (OT)
This wasn't just the best game of the Broncos' season; it was arguably the best game of the entire NFL postseason. In a back-and-forth shootout with the reigning MVP in Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, the Broncos forced five turnovers and saw their second-year quarterback lead a game-winning drive to earn their first playoff win since Super Bowl 50. This game featured a touchdown pass to an offensive lineman in Frank Crum, a deep touchdown pass in the moments before halftime, an unexpected fumble recovery on a late first-half Allen scramble and a strip-sack by Nik Bonitto. And that was all before we reached the fourth quarter. The Bills, who once trailed 23-10, retook the lead — and then added to it — on the shoulders of 17 unanswered points. Denver took over, trailing by four, with 4:11 to play — and Nix turned in the defining drive of his young career. Nix converted a pair of third downs and then threw an absolute dime to Mims for a 26-yard go-ahead touchdown with 61 seconds to play. Allen, though, wasn't finished. He moved the Bills in position for a game-tying field goal, and the two teams headed for overtime. After a Broncos punt on the first possession, the Bills faced a third-and-11 at their own 36-yard line when Allen looked deep for Brandin Cooks. With a catch, the Bills would have been in position to attempt a game-winning field goal — and Cooks appeared to initially have the ball in his grasp. That's when McMillian made the play of his life, ripping the ball away from Cooks before he completed the catch to record an interception. The play gave the Broncos new life, and they drove 75 yards to set up the game-winning field goal. The euphoria, to some degree, was short lived after the game, as Head Coach Sean Payton announced Nix suffered an ankle injury and would miss the remainder of the season. A week later, Denver's season ended in a three-point loss to New England. But despite the loss of Nix and the eventual ending to the year, there's no doubting the importance and impressiveness of the win over the Bills.
