The Denver Broncos shook off the bye-week rust and played a nail-biter on the East Coast vs. the Washington Commanders. As far as Sunday Night Football fare goes, it was as good a game as any fan could expect, but the Broncos emerged victorious in overtime, 27-26.
The game came down to the final play, after the Commanders had scored a touchdown to match the Broncos’ opening scoring drive of overtime. Head coach Dan Quinn opted to play for the win, and the Commanders went for a two-point conversion.
It would have succeeded, had Broncos rush linebacker Nik Bonitto not managed to get a hand up and bat Marcus Mariota’s pass down. Ball game.
Some Broncos fans were dissatisfied with the win. You know, the nine-win Broncos were supposed to stomp all over the three-win Commanders, but no one in the NFL is ever going to apologize for a victory, least of all Bonitto.
“If you look across the league this week, a lot of the teams that were supposed to win those games lost a lot of them,” Bonitto said post-game. “And that’s like, with championship teams, we’re going to find ways to win, and we did that today. So we’re not going to take any win for granted. We know this was a game we wanted to win, and we found a way.”
NIK BONITTO. GAME OVER. pic.twitter.com/wdilygDF1x
— NFL (@NFL) December 1, 2025
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Broncos Retake the No. 1 Seed
Nov 30, 2025; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders center Tyler Biadasz (63) exchanges words with Denver Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto (15) in the second quarter of the game at Northwest Stadium. | Peter Casey-Imagn Images
The Broncos move to 10-2 on the season, retaking the No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC. However, the 10-2 New England Patriots will play the New York Giants on Monday night, and if Mike Vrabel’s team wins, they’ll reclaim the No. 1 seed because they haven’t had their bye yet.
As for Bonitto, he was a complete game-wrecker for most of the night. The Commanders did a great job of blocking up the Broncos’ pass rush early, scheming to take it away with hurry-up offense and quick passes.
Eventually, though, you knew Bonitto was going to get his, and he did. He finished with three tackles, a sack, multiple pressures, and that game-winning batted pass.
It’s also worth mentioning that Bonitto was getting held all night long. On Sunday night, he became the first Bronco since Von Miller to notch back-to-back seasons with double-digit sacks.
Bonitto now has 10.5 sacks, on the heels of his 13.5-sack breakout campaign last season. He’s likely in line for another Pro Bowl nod, and perhaps some All-Pro recognition.
By the way, Jonathon Cooper still has the chance to become the second Bronco since Miller to post double-digit sacks in back-to-back seasons. Cooper was also a menace on Sunday night, though he wasn’t able to quite notch a sack. He has 7.5 on the season, and the Broncos still have five games left to play.
Credit to Sean Payton, Bo Nix, and the entire Broncos squad for finding new and novel ways to win ball games. The Broncos have now won nine straight games, and have posted their best start to a season since the World Champion squad in 2015.
If the Broncos can win their next two games against the Las Vegas Raiders and Green Bay Packers, they’ll get to 11 straight victories, which would tie the streak that Peyton Manning’s squad had in 2012. But let’s not count these chickens until they’ve hatched.
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