CINCINNATI — Sean Payton had a decision to make after everyone inside Paycor Stadium collectively retrieved their jaws from the floor in the final seconds of the fourth quarter Saturday night. There was unusual arithmetic that needed to be considered.
Broncos wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. had just hauled in his second touchdown pass of the second half. The latest was an acrobatic 25-yard reception on an equally spellbinding throw from rookie quarterback Bo Nix that came on fourth-and-1 and pulled Denver to within one point, 24-23. There were only 8 seconds left. If coach Sean Payton decided to go for two and converted, the Broncos would win the game and secure their first playoff appearance in nine years. If they failed, they would suffer a gut-punch loss on the heels of the improbable touchdown, leaving their postseason hanging in the balance for one more excruciating week.
TOUCHDOWN MARVIN MIMS JR. WOW.
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Kicking the point after and tying the game, meanwhile, would bring overtime and a different batch of scenarios to factor. Among them: a tie, as it related to Denver’s playoff quest, would be the same as a win.
It was that fact that tipped the scales.
“We knew a tie for us was just as beneficial as a win,” Payton said. “We felt like we had momentum at that point. … If the tie element didn’t sit in there, it probably would have been a little easier decision.”
The Broncos had two different ways to emerge winners Saturday. That made the heartbreak suffered in a 30-24 overtime loss even more difficult to soothe.
“Sometimes you eat a s–t sandwich,” said cornerback Riley Moss, who was picked on by sensational Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow early and often Saturday. “You have to own it.”
GO DEEPER
Burrow keeps Bengals playoff hopes alive in wild 30-24 OT win over Broncos: Takeaways
It can be debated whether Denver should have attempted an all-or-nothing two-point play instead of trading more punches with Burrow and his explosive sidekicks, who turned their third drive of overtime into the game-winning touchdown. The bottom line is the Broncos began the final stretch of the regular season with three chances to win one game. Now, it’s one chance to win one, any backdoor scenarios that put them in the bracket with nine wins be damned.
“We just have to find a way to win,” cornerback Pat Surtain II said of next week’s matchup with a potentially stripped-down version of the league-leading Kansas City Chiefs. “We showed resilience, but all those motivational factors can’t play a part now. We’ve got one more opportunity to get ourselves in the tournament.”
The Broncos got a second chance in overtime — their first drive ended in a three-and-out — when Bengals kicker Cade York hooked a 33-yard field goal attempt into the left upright at the end of Cincinnati’s second overtime drive. The tie scenario Payton factored into his choice to kick the end-of-regulation extra point was coming into play. The Bengals still had two timeouts, but the Broncos needed only one first down to be in a position, at worst, to tie the game and go to the playoffs.
“I don’t think, as players, we were necessarily thinking about tying them at that point,” tight end Adam Trautman said. ” … We were just out there trying to get a first down.”
The Broncos gained 3 yards on a run by Audric Estime on first down and the Bengals called their first time out. On second down, Cincinnati blew up a screen pass for Mims, resulting in a 1-yard loss, then stopped the clock with their final timeout of overtime. On third-and-8, Nix’s pass landed between Trautman and wide receiver Troy Franklin. As Riley Dixon lined up to punt on fourth down, the Broncos had managed to burn only 14 seconds.
“They ran it a couple times there and they threw it on third down and saved us,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “Not that the time was going to be critical — I thought we were going to have plenty of time to go and do what we needed to do. It’s an interesting situation. There’s a lot going through your mind. You’re having to process it, make quick decisions. There’s a lot we’re going to review over the next several years from this game, I’m sure, that will teach us a lot about how to handle some of these situations.”
The Burrow answer after Denver’s failed final drive felt inevitable. Burrow’s first pass — which came after a lackluster, 38-yard punt from Dixon — went for 16 yards to Andrei Iosivas. Two plays later, he hit Tee Higgins for a 31-yard gain, one of his many completions into seemingly impossible windows Saturday. That set up the winning, 3-yard touchdown pass to Higgins. The Broncos sacked Burrow seven times, but they could never make him buckle. He finished with 412 yards passing and rushed for 25 more yards and another touchdown.
“Joe’s elite for a reason,” said defensive end Zach Allen, who would have had 5 ½ sacks on Burrow had two not been called back by defensive penalties. “It’s pretty hard not to say he’s a — if not the — top quarterback in the league. There’s a reason he got to the Super Bowl a couple years ago, and wins big playoff games. Give him credit. He’s a gamer.”
Nix matched Burrow in the second half with three touchdown passes, all of which tied the game at the time. He hit Courtland Sutton in the end zone on a well-placed fade ball in the third quarter. He dropped a perfect 51-yard deep ball to Mims in the back of the end zone in the fourth. His final scoring toss at the end of regulation came after he threw an interception on Denver’s previous drive. The flurry came after the Broncos managed only three total points in three first-half possessions.
The best view you’ll see of that Bo Nix-Marvin Mims connection 🔥
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“In the second half, we got going a little bit,” Payton said. “Those guys competed their tails off. The one at the end was a heck of a throw and catch on fourth down.”
It was a reverse of Denver’s loss to the Chargers in Week 16 when they scored touchdowns on their first three possessions and managed only two field goals the rest of the game. But the roller coaster that has been Denver’s offense for much of the past month took its latest dip at the wrong time. The Broncos managed only 6 net yards on six plays in overtime, their first three-and-out cemented when Nix narrowly missed Franklin — as has often been the case this season — on a deep route up the sideline. Denver has gone three-and-out on 40.8 percent of its possessions, according to TruMedia, a worse mark in that span than every team besides the New York Giants.
“The little margins are so small in this league,” Trautman said. “Whether we’re picking up stuff correctly, ID-ing their pressures, whatever the case may be, we just have to be more refined.”
The Bengals know about small margins. Even after their euphoric victory on Saturday, their playoff odds remain low. They must win at Pittsburgh, have the Broncos lose to the Chiefs in Week 18 and have the Dolphins or Colts lose one of their last two games, which all come against teams with losing records. Cincinnati is in that position because they lost seven games this season by seven points or fewer, several coming down to a final play or series.
The Broncos have one more chance to avoid that fate. Yes, they could still sneak into the postseason at nine wins if the Bengals lose to the Steelers and the Dolphins lose one of their final two games. They would prefer to keep the math much simpler. The 10th win has proven elusive — so, too, has the first tie — but it is still there for the taking.
“It’s definitely a lot better than where we were last year,” Allen said, “where you have a 5 percent chance and have to hope Saturn and Mars align. We’ll be fine.”
(Photo: AAron Ontiveroz / Getty Images)
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