Trevor Siemian, Broncos Almost Blow Big Lead, Hang On to Beat Chargers

The Denver Broncos started their 2017 season in dramatic fashion Monday with a 24-21 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in an AFC West battle at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.  

Denver appeared to be cruising to a straightforward win with a 24-7 lead in the fourth quarter, but Los Angeles climbed to within three and set the stage for a potential overtime after two turnovers and two quick scores.

However, Shelby Harris blocked rookie kicker Younghoe Koo's first field-goal attempt of his career to secure the season-opening win for the Broncos.

It was nearly a reversal of fortune for Philip Rivers and the Chargers considering Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune noted they held the lead in eight fourth quarters last year on the way to a 5-11 record. A comeback would have helped put the 2016 season defined by blown leads in the rearview mirror, but Harris had other ideas.

Nick Kosmider of the Denver Post put Harris' heroics into perspective:

Rivers turned around his individual stat line with touchdown passes to Keenan Allen and Travis Benjamin in the fourth quarter during the comeback and finished with 192 passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

His counterpart, Trevor Siemian, controlled the majority of the contest but threw a critical interception to Adrian Phillips to kickstart Los Angeles' near-comeback.

Siemian finished with 219 passing yards, two touchdown throws and a touchdown run, which was enough to overcome his late mistake and a fourth-quarter fumble from Jamaal Charles that Rivers parlayed into a 38-yard touchdown pass to Benjamin on the next play:

The back-and-forth finish set the backdrop as announcer Beth Mowins made history:

While it was just the first game of the year, last season's AFC West featured three teams with winning records and a combined 38-26 mark between the four clubs. Head-to-head results figure to prove critical in this year's race, especially after the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders already started their seasons with Week 1 wins over the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans, respectively.

Denver kept pace on Monday because of its fast start and stifling defense that held Melvin Gordon to 54 rushing yards and only began to show cracks late after costly turnovers on the other side.

Siemian staked that defense to a 14-7 halftime lead by finding the end zone twice in the early going. He opened the scoring with a touchdown pass to Bennie Fowler III and demonstrated his shiftiness by juking Joey Bosa on his way to the end zone on a quarterback rollout:

The Chargers answered Denver's first touchdown when Gordon dove to paydirt after hauling in Rivers' checkdown underneath:

Siemian continued to separate himself in the quarterback battle in the second half when he parlayed Bradley Roby's interception of Rivers into a drive ending with another touchdown pass to Fowler.

Will Brinson of CBS Sports commented on Denver's quarterback situation after Siemian's impressive start:

The Northwestern product appeared to put the game away by orchestrating a 14-play, 78-yard drive that took more than eight minutes off the clock and ended with a field goal giving the Broncos the 24-7 lead heading into the fourth.

Denver's potent defense did its part as well when Todd Davis blasted through Los Angeles' offensive line and stopped Gordon on a 4th-and-1 with a monster hit:

However, Bosa enacted revenge on Siemian for the juke when he teamed with Melvin Ingram for sacks and constant pressure in the fourth quarter to keep Denver at 24. The Chargers offense couldn't take advantage a final time and failed to score on its last two possessions down three with a punt and the blocked field goal that came after Denver called a timeout to ice the rookie kicker.

"It felt like we never got into a rhythm," Rivers said, per Ricky Henne of the Chargers' official website. "We just waited too long to get started."

The Broncos now remain at home for Week 2 after giving their fans a scare Monday and will face the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

The Chargers will look for their first win of the season on the same day in their home opener against the Miami Dolphins.