The Denver Broncos have made a slew of mental mistakes to start the 2025 season, and Sunday’s loss against the Los Angeles Chargers was no different.
The Broncos were called for 10 penalties in the 23-20 loss, one of which left second-year quarterback Bo Nix baffled.
“Offside on the offense, I didn’t even know that was possible,” Nix said, per ESPN’s Jeff Legwold. “Those things we’ve just got to fix, that’s accountability on us and we’ll fix them. Just can’t have them happen.”
Indeed, Denver tight end Adam Trautman was inexplicably called for an offsides penalty, but he was far from the team’s only culprit.
The Broncos defense had a subpar day with three penalties on a field-goal drive by the Chargers, plus an unnecessary roughness penalty on safety Talanoa Hufanga in the fourth quarter that kept a Los Angeles touchdown drive alive. Star edge rusher Nik Bonitto was even flagged for lining up in the neutral zone on a punt.
“We’ve got be able to align correctly … that needs to be cleaned up fast,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said after the loss.
Denver had six accepted penalties in its season-opening win against the Tennessee Titans, but that figure grew to eight in its Week 2 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, which included a leverage penalty on a field-goal attempt that gave the Colts another chance at a game-winner with no time left on the clock. After falling to the Chargers, it’s clear that there’s more work to be done to correct the issue.
The Broncos will be facing the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football in Week 4, so they should be motivated to minimize their mistakes while playing in front of a national audience.
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