5 winners and 3 concerning losers from Broncos' much-needed win over Chargers

The Denver Broncos are now 3-2 after beating the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 5, and we continue to learn a lot about this team every single week.

After making it to the AFC Championship Game last season without quarterback Bo Nix, the Broncos don't exactly look like themselves so far in 2026. And that might be putting it lightly.

And yet, in the same breath, the story is the same for this Broncos team. They have been maddeningly inconsistent in some ways, but consistently resilient. This team finds ways to win. And while it's perfectly fine to be happy with the result of winning a game, it's also fair to be critical of the performance within the game itself.

Let's take a look at the biggest winners and most concerning losers from the Broncos' Week 5 win against the Chargers

Biggest winners and losers for Broncos in crucial win over Chargers

Loser: Bo Nix, QB

Let's start off with our unfortunate "loser" section, and let's get straight to it. The play of Bo Nix so far this season has been concerning.

I'm not worried about any sort of "inability" to throw the ball down the field. We've seen Nix do it before, and he can do it again. The concerning part of Nix's play, up to this point, is that it simply looks like we're not seeing the same guy out there that we've seen in the past.

Where is the Bo Nix from the Divisional Round win against the Bills? Where is the Bo Nix from last year's Packers game or last year's Cowboys game? Where is the Bo Nix that busted off a 25-yard run to set up a game-winning field goal against the Texans? Where is the Bo Nix that accounted for four touchdowns in the 4th quarter against the New York Giants?

Unmet expectations with Nix in his third season have caused unrest among the fan base, to say the least. Nix has not shown progression in year three, and instead has shown some significant signs of regression.

We don't need to be too overreactive, either. He showed some really nice things against the Jaguars in Week 2, and some really nice things in a mixed bag of a game against the Rams. And he's made enough plays to help the team win three games.

But this Denver Broncos offense needs Bo Nix to be Bo Nix. Right now, he is looking like the ghost of his former self.

Loser: 3/5 of the offensive line

The Denver Broncos may have to answer some really difficult questions on the offensive line in the very near future.

Although continuity has been the priority up front, it's also started to burn the team a little bit. Specifically, left guard Ben Powers, center Luke Wattenberg, and right tackle Mike McGlinchey have been liabilities for the team on a number of occasions this season.

Whether it's penalties, allowing pressure, getting pushed back on a QB sneak, errant snaps -- you name it. These three guys have been a sore subject this entire season as the Broncos have been seeking any semblance of consistency offensively.

At what point will these three players, in particular, have to answer for their poor play? The Broncos have alternative options available in guys like Alex Palczewski and Alex Forsyth, but would they really consider an in-season change? That may be wishful thinking.

But after missing a bunch of time last year to injury, Ben Powers has not been the same player. He's been proving why the team asked him to take a pay cut, and maybe why he was willing to take one.

Wattenberg is also showing ill effects of missing a bunch of time over the summer due to injury.

McGlinchey has not had a good year overall, but he had a brutal sequence against the Chargers with a missed block that caused a screen pass to lose 5 yards, followed by a penalty.

For veterans like these three players, the expectations should be high. And they are not being met.

Loser: Wil Lutz, kicker

Enough is enough with the missed kicks.

The Denver Broncos are reaping what they've sown with Wil Lutz, not giving him any sort of competition whatsoever in recent years. And yes, Lutz made a ton of clutch kicks last season for the Broncos, and those cannot be discounted.

However, he's starting to make the misses a bit of a habit. It's rather concerning that he's already missed three kicks in the first five games this season, even if the 58-yarder in last week's loss to the 49ers ended up being somewhat inconsequential. It was still a chance to stay in the game late, and the kick had plenty of leg.

Lutz missed another kick against the Chargers, completely wasting a possession that started in Chargers territory on a very good Marvin Mims punt return.

Of course, the offense needs to find ways to actually score touchdowns instead of settling for field goals, but Lutz has to be lights out when his number is called at his pay grade.

Winner: The Secondary

I was going to list all of these guys out one by one, but let's lump the entire secondary into the "Winners" category for now.

Where do we begin?

The Broncos were missing star corner Pat Surtain II due to an ankle injury in this game, and they were also without their other starter, Riley Moss. That was seemingly no problem for young corners Jahdae Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine, who held it down admirably against the Chargers.

The only caveat is that the Chargers didn't have healthy receivers for the game, but those two made some big plays that ended up having a significant impact on the game. Specifically, Barron made one open-field tackle on Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert that forced a 4th-and-short, where the Broncos' defensive front stopped Herbert on a quarterback sneak.

It should be lost on no one that Barron made an open-field tackle where someone like Riley Moss has whiffed on a variety of occasions this season.

This game also featured a forced fumble by Talanoa Hufanga, who made up for slipping on the very same play and allowing a big chunk of yardage from Chargers tight end Charlie Kolar. Hufanga pulled Kolar's injured left forearm, got the ball loose, and set up a touchdown drive for the Denver offense early on.

Brandon Jones also picked off a Justin Herbert pass in this game, sitting down in zone coverage and baiting an easy one from Herbert. That interception came at a crucial time and set the Broncos up for a field goal and a 6-point lead late.

And how about Ja'Quan McMillian calling game with a sack on the last play?

Again, the secondary as a whole deserves a ton of praise for the way they played in this game.

Winner: Nik Bonitto, outside linebacker

It has been a bit of a tough start to the year for Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonitto, but he got things going in a big way against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Again, the caveat here is that there were a lot of injuries for the Chargers, so Bonitto was going up against a patchwork offensive line, but he was still facing a lot of chips, double teams, and extra attention.

He managed to come through with a pair of sacks, 3 tackles for loss, and 2 QB hits. It was a big step in the right direction for Bonitto, and hopefully some momentum going forward.

Winner: Justin Strnad & Alex Singleton, linebacker

It definitely wasn't a perfect game from the Broncos' linebackers against the Los Angeles Chargers, but we saw a handful of things in this game that we haven't seen a ton of this season, so it stood out.

First of all, we saw both Justin Strnad and Alex Singleton making plays behind the line of scrimmage. This might be the first game so far in 2026 in which both Strnad and Singleton had a tackle for loss on the stat sheet.

Even though the Broncos gave up some big chunks to the Chargers on the ground in this game, the plays behind the line of scrimmage were notable.

We also saw Strnad make a really nice play in coverage late in this game. These two guys were flying around the field, and combined for 15 total tackles.

Winner: Dondrea Tillman, outside linebacker

This will sound extremely hyperbolic, but Dondrea Tillman was a bit of a godsend for the Broncos' defensive front against the Chargers. He might be this team's most consistent edge defender when it comes to actually setting the edge.

And he made some really nice plays against the Chargers.

After missing a game due to a hamstring injury, Tillman bounced back with 4 total tackles, a tackle for loss, and a QB hit on Justin Herbert. His presence off the edge was important.

Winner: JL Skinner, safety

You have to win the game in all three phases, and on Sunday, JL Skinner might have been the Broncos' best special teams player overall. He finished the game with two tackles, but anytime the Broncos were kicking off or punting, No. 34 was down the field and around the football making plays.

Skinner has become an ace on special teams for the Broncos and his value continues to prove itself week after week.

This was a huge game for him as the Broncos tried to flip field position and keep the Chargers pinned as deep as possible.

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