HOUSTON — There was no panic.
As the Broncos entered the locker room trailing 12-7 at halftime, they knew they needed to play better.
They knew they needed to cut down on the first-half mistakes and play a cleaner brand of football.
But there also wasn't any doubt.
"Your team grows and evolves into something," Head Coach Sean Payton said after a 18-15 win. "I don't think there was a person in that locker room that felt like we were losing this game. Now, we all felt like we needed to do certain things better, but I think there was a lot of confidence coming into the second half."
Safety Talanoa Hufanga only needed one word to describe the halftime locker room environment: "Peaceful."
After turning the ball over twice in the first half, the Broncos played cleaner football after the break. On offense, they posted more first downs, total yards and rushing yards in the second half and also notched the 11 needed fourth-quarter points to earn their fourth comeback win in five weeks.
"I think it shows the resilience of our team and the unwavering faith that we have to know that we can go out there and perform," wide receiver Courtland Sutton said of the team's second-half turnaround.
In the fourth quarter, quarterback Bo Nix completed 9-of-16 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown while also rushing three times for 36 yards — including a clutch 25-yard scramble that set up Wil Lutz' game-winning kick.
"It's hard to win on the road in this league," Nix said. "It's hard to do it continuously, [and] we're just finding ways to do it. We found another way today. [It's] just good for the character and the continued development of the team."
With the gritty win, the Broncos earned a three-game road winning streak to match their longest streak of 2024. Before last season, Denver hadn't strung together three consecutive road wins since 2015.
It seems no matter which stat you look at with this team, there's a similar statistic. Denver's six-game winning streak is also its longest since starting the 2015 season 7-0.
And the Broncos, who finished last season 1-6 in one-score games, holds a 5-2 record in one-score contests through Week 9. The last time the Broncos had five one-score wins through nine games? The 2015 season, when the Broncos went 11-3 in one-score games, including their postseason run.
That, in part, is why Nix is encouraged by the variety of ways the Broncos have won football games. They've earned 20-point wins over the Bengals and Cowboys, racking up a season-high 44 points in the latter matchup. They've also clamped down defensively, holding their opponents without a touchdown in wins over the Titans, Bengals, Jets and Texans.
In four of the one-possession wins, the Broncos have also notched fourth-quarter comebacks. The smallest required them to overcome a two-point deficit. The largest called for a 33-point fourth quarter.
"It just proves that we can win tough games and proves that [is] our mentality," Nix said. "… Obviously, we have to improve in many different areas, but the ugly wins are important. They're important down the stretch, and if you can find them and you can win these one-possession games, it helps you in the future."
The future, for the 7-2 Broncos, could mean turning the regular-season success into much more as the calendar continues to roll toward the second half of the season.
"I feel like all playoff games and tough games in the postseason are one-score games," Nix said. "You've got to learn how to win those."
The Broncos are in midst of that process, and they have a team that's united in its belief.
"They're playing for each other," Payton said. "No one wants to let anyone down. That's a good thing."
