The Denver Broncos had a playoff ticket in hand, but let the Los Angeles Chargers snatch it away.

Sean Payton’s team controlled much of the first half and built an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter. But the lead suddenly deteriorated. The Chargers scored three touchdowns in the second half, turning a 24-13 deficit into a 34-24 lead. LA would claim a 34-27 victory.

“It was disappointing because there was a lot at stake and we know that,” Payton said, via the Associated Press. “We got off to a quick start. That encouraged me, and then, uncharacteristically for this season, we didn’t play nearly well enough in the second half, either offensively or defensively. Time of ball possession. The third-down numbers. Ours.” Rushing numbers went down in the second half and we didn’t make enough plays at the end.

Denver opened the game with three consecutive TD drives, but was unable to reach the end zone halfway through the second quarter. The Broncos went out of bounds three times on the night and only managed six first downs in the second half.

The offense hit a lull and the defense uncharacteristically found itself in trouble, leaving the Chargers’ wideouts open for big gains repeatedly while Justin Herbert split up Vance Joseph’s team.

“Everyone in this locker room — every guy — wants to play next week at this point, I think,” quarterback Bo Nix said. “We are all frustrated with competition. I think we’re excited about this opportunity. We know the next one is the most important and we just want to go out next week and not feel like that again.”

Linebacker Jonathon Cooper added: “I just feel like the frustration comes from the fact that we knew we could have won that game and we started the way we knew we wanted to. We just didn’t end it the way we wanted to.”…Everyone’s hurt. But we have to learn from this and come back stronger next week and focus on getting our tenth win.

The collapse was a collective effort, with the offense faltering and the defense making mistakes. Payton said he liked the way his team fought, but they needed to be smarter, especially given the defense’s five “coverage losses.”

“I think we play hard,” Payton said. “But we have to be smarter. And we have to be smarter as coaches too.”

A win would have secured Denver a spot in the playoffs. Even with the loss, they still have an 85 percent chance of making the postseason, according to the Next Gen Stats model. However, the loss pushes them to seventh place, meaning that if the ranking remained the same, they would travel to Buffalo to face the juggernaut Bills in the Wild Card round.