Two weeks ago, the Broncos had gone through a nearly identical ritual as McManus approached a shot at a game-winning field goal. That time, though, the kick had sailed wide right, and the Broncos again felt crushed as they dropped another close game to a team in playoff contention. But they made clear that that kick made absolutely no impact on their confidence in McManus, who had only missed one field goal in the eight games before that day.

"We all love B," safety Su'a Cravens said. "He had only missed one kick up to that kick, so he's a great kicker. We didn't get on him; it wasn't like he was shunned when he walked in. It was just a tough loss. We could have done things to make sure the game didn't have to come down to a field goal. We love B and he stepped up today and got the job done."

And the guys who have been around McManus since he arrived in Denver in 2014 and have seen him work day in and day out know exactly how kicks like the one he made to beat the Chargers are much more representative of the kind of kicker he is.

"I see him every day," cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. "He's on point, he's working hard and he's been a good friend with me — since I've been here and since he's been here. I just have great trust in him, and I knew the Houston game, that was a tough kick. I knew that if he got another chance, I knew he could bounce back and make it. Today we had all the confidence in the world that he was going to knock it down for us."

But even more than just what one kick means, it's how McManus responds to the rare misfire that defines him and why he succeeds as a kicker.

"Obviously I'd love to sit here and say that I've never missed a kick in my life, but that's just the percentages and the stats," an even-keel McManus said after Sunday's win. "… What I can do is come back the second time and try to make it — which, obviously, I was fortunate enough to do today. You want to make it back out there and make a big kick as soon as you can, so it's great for it to be the next game."

McManus' calm demeanor in the locker room of course did not reflect the madness that had engulfed everyone (or almost everyone — Josey Jewell and Todd Davis, clearly exhausted after chasing running back Melvin Gordon and Antonio Gates for much of the game, rested on the bench as their teammates went wild) on the Broncos' sideline when his kick had sailed between the goalposts.

Keenum embraced his position coach, with whom he's spent countless hours at UCHealth Training Center as they studied and prepared for each game. Courtland Sutton, waving his arms and leaping into the air, galloped across the field in an arc from one edge of their bench area out toward midfield and then back to the other edge of the bench.