Justin Herbert leads late Chargers rally in 23-20 thriller over Broncos to take stranglehold of AFC West

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Denver's defense spent much of Sunday pressuring and pummeling Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. 

But when it mattered most, Herbert made the plays that counted and rallied the Chargers in the fourth quarter to a 23-20 win over the Broncos. With the win, the Chargers improved to 3-0 to take a stranglehold of the AFC West after defeating each of their division opponents. 

The Broncos missed a chance to take first place and instead drop to 1-2 with a two-game deficit and a loss to the first-place Chargers. 

The Broncos held a 20-13 lead late in the fourth quarter, but punted back to the Chargers with 6:05 remaining when a 12-yard Bo Nix scramble came up just short of a first down. The Broncos responded with a 76-yard touchdown drive to tie the game at 20-20. 

Herbert completed 4 of 5 pass attempts on the drive, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. 

The score gave the Broncos a chance to respond with a late go-ahead scoring drive. But they failed to gain a first down when Bo Nix's deep ball to Courtland Sutton on third-and-10 was overthrown.

The Broncos punted again, giving the Chargers a look at a go-ahead drive with 1:43 remaining. The Chargers answered again with 43-yard drive to set up Cameron Dicker for a 43-yard game-winning field as time expired.