NFL Winners and Losers, late Sunday games: Broncos beat Chargers to get to 14-3, clinch AFC's No. 1 seed

The Denver Broncos' No. 1 seed-clinching performance wasn't impressive or memorable. But it got the job done. Which has pretty much been the Broncos' approach this season.

Denver might not be the most dominant top seed ever, but it's hard to go 14-3 in the NFL. And now the Broncos, like the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC, are two home wins from Super Bowl LX.

The Broncos outlasted the Chargers 19-3 in an uninspiring game. They were good enough to beat a Chargers team that had little to play for and was resting starters, but they didn't look like one of the best teams in the NFL. The offense didn't score a touchdown. The defense was good, as it has been all season, and the Broncos should be thankful for that. The offense will have to be better to beat whoever they host on divisional round weekend. But the important part is they're hosting someone on divisional round weekend as the No. 1 seed.

The last time the Broncos hosted a playoff game, Peyton Manning was the winning quarterback. They beat Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game, and two weeks later beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. There was a long drought after that, and it bottomed out in Nathaniel Hackett's beyond-awful season as head coach. Things can turn around fast in the NFL, however.

The Broncos traded for Sean Payton and drafted quarterback Bo Nix, which helped solve their two biggest problems. The Broncos were able to overcome the cap problems and draft picks lost in the horrific Russell Wilson trade to make the playoffs last season and then become the AFC's best team this season, ending the Chiefs' streak of nine straight AFC West titles.

The Broncos caught a break in Week 17 when the Texans beat the Chargers. Had the Chargers won, they'd have been playing for the AFC West championship in Week 18. Instead they were stuck with a wild-card spot, with little chance to improve their seeding in a meaningful way, and they sat some players including quarterback Justin Herbert. The path to a No. 1 seed was a lot easier against a disinterested Chargers team.

It still wasn't easy. The defense accounted for the first touchdown on the game, when Trey Lance's pass was deflected and intercepted by Ja'Quan McMillian, who returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. That ended up being the only touchdown of the game.

The Broncos' defense was good, as usual. Lance had a big opportunity to impress in a rare start, but looked like little more than a career backup. It's hard for most quarterbacks to generate much against the Broncos defense, however. That's what makes them a dangerous opponent in the playoffs, especially with the bye coming up.

The Broncos won't get the same respect that most No. 1 seeds get. They have won an inordinate amount of close games this season. The offense has not taken a step forward Nix's second season, and is prone to bad games like it had Sunday. They had trouble with the Chargers' JV team on Sunday. But Denver has a legitimate home-field advantage in the altitude and won't to leave Colorado until the Super Bowl, if they make it. And for anyone underestimating Denver due to style points: It's hard to win 14 games by accident.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from the late games of Week 18 (the AFC South champion Jacksonville Jaguars led winners and losers from the early games):

Rhamondre Stevenson: The New England Patriots didn't have a ton to play for on Sunday, aside from praying the resting Chargers beat the Broncos to open up the possibility of a No. 1 seed. But the Patriots did play their starters, and Stevenson had a career day.

The Patriots ran over the Miami Dolphins to win 38-10 and finish the season 14-3. The Broncos take the tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed, and the Patriots will forever lament blowing a 21-0 lead at home to the Bills and losing a few weeks ago, but New England can feel good going into the playoffs on a high note.

Stevenson stole the show. He had 131 yards rushing and two touchdowns on only seven carries, and also had a receiving touchdown. Fellow running back TreVeyon Henderson added two more touchdowns.

Rhamondre Stevenson sets a single-game career high with 3 TDs

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The Patriots won't get the bye as the No. 1 seed. But it was a productive day.

Las Vegas Raiders: The Raiders didn't try to hide their shame of desperately chasing the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. At least they didn't screw up actually getting the top pick.

The Raiders had the first pick clinched before their season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off. The Raiders landed the top pick when the Giants won in the early set of games. That way, it didn't even matter when they beat a Kansas City Chiefs team that crawled across the finish line at the end of the season. In one of the uglier games of the season, the Raiders beat the Chiefs 14-12. The teams traded field goals in the final 1:01, the final one a 60-yarder from Daniel Carlson with eight seconds remaining. Neither team scored a touchdown. If it was Travis Kelce's final game, it was an unceremonious way to go out. While that era might end for the Chiefs, another will begin soon for the Raiders.

The Raiders almost certainly will take a quarterback with the first pick. Fernando Mendoza of Indiana has led the discussion but Oregon's Dante Moore will be a candidate if he enters the draft. It's a crucial offseason coming up. The Raiders seem likely to move on from coach Pete Carroll, so a new staff will take over. And the Raiders will get a quarterback who can finally provide some hope of better days ahead.

Matthew Stafford's MVP chances: Is it possible that Stafford overtook Drake Maye on the final day of the season to win his first MVP?

It will be a tough decision for voters. Stafford made his final case with four touchdown passes in a 37-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals. The Rams did not play well for most of the game but turned it on late. Stafford had two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to push the Rams to the win. It was his fourth four-touchdown game of the season. He finishes with 46 touchdowns on the season. With the win the Rams clinched the No. 5 seed and will face the Panthers on wild-card weekend.

Matthew Stafford is the third player in NFL history with multiple pass TDs in 15 games in a season

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The MVP race has been a two-man race for a while between Stafford and Drake Maye of the Patriots. New England won on Sunday evening too, but Maye had a relatively quiet day with 191 yards and a touchdown.

Maye probably had the lead going into Week 18, after Stafford struggled against the Falcons last week. Stafford had the more prolific game on Sunday. Will that flip the vote back in Stafford's favor?

Philadelphia Eagles: Maybe the Eagles should have played for the No. 2 seed.

The Eagles rested starters, choosing to not chase the No. 2 seed and a wild-card matchup against the Green Bay Packers, who are probably the most vulnerable of. the wild-card teams after Micah Parsons' injury. The Eagles needed to win and have the Bears be upset by the Lions. The Eagles played backups, and the Bears were upset. So were the Eagles, as Washington won 24-17 with third-string quarterback Josh Johnson leading the way.

Maybe it won't matter. A rested Eagles team will face the 49ers on wild-card weekend, and perhaps the rest will be more important than the easier matchup against Green Bay. But if they lose that game, or a possible road game at the No. 2 seeded Bears the next weekend, there will be some second guessing over why they didn't try to get the more advantageous seed.

Chicago Bears: Sunday's performance by the Bears was a bit troubling.

They had something tangible to play for against a Detroit Lions team that was eliminated from the playoff race last week. Getting the No. 2 seed with a win would clinch a matchup against a vulnerable Green Bay Packers team, rather than facing either the Rams or 49ers. The Bears played their starters and still got the No. 2 seed because of Philadelphia's loss to Washington, but it's hard to view Sunday as a positive day for the Bears.

The Lions dominated the Bears in Chicago for most of the first three quarters. The Bears rallied in the fourth quarter to tie it, with Caleb Williams and the passing game finally coming alive after struggling most of the game, but the Lions won 19-16 on a field goal as time expired.

The Bears didn't rest their key players and lost anyway. They didn't look particularly good in doing it, either. Now on wild-card weekend they'll face a Packers team that did rest its starters in Week 18.

Aaron Glenn: To be fair, Glenn has been down to his third-string quarterback and a shell of the defense he started the season with. But the Jets have been impossibly bad for most of Glenn's first season as a head coach.

The Jets started the season 0-7 and finished by being blown out for most of their games from November on. The latest loss was as bad as it gets, being absolutely overmatched against a Buffalo Bills team that rested starters before the playoffs start next week. The Bills sent out Highmark Stadium a winner in the final regular-season season game there, beating the Jets 35-8.

The Jets were playing Bills backups and couldn't even compete. When the Bills took a 21-0 lead with 4:58 left in the first half, the Bills were outgaining the Jets 248-29 and had 15 first downs to one for the Jets. If that happened against Josh Allen and James Cook, it would be bad. Against Mitchell Trubisky and Ray Davis it was embarrassing. Trubisky had 259 yards and four touchdowns. The Jets didn't get an interception, inexplicably becoming first team in NFL history to not record a single interception over the course of a season.

There hasn't been much speculation that Glenn is in any trouble after a 3-14 season. But there aren't any tangible signs that he's the right coach for the job. We'll find out more next season.