Though the Broncos had every chance to beat the Colts on Sunday, the club instead headed home to Denver 1-1 after Spencer Shrader kicked a game-winning, 45-yard field goal through the uprights on an untimed down.

Indianapolis had decided to settle for a long field goal after reaching Denver territory with under two minutes on the clock. Plus, the Broncos had used all their timeouts.

But when Jonathan Taylor was stuffed for a 2-yard loss on third-and-7 from the Denver 40, it left the Colts with a 60-yard field goal attempt.

Even in controlled conditions like those of Lucas Oil Stadium, that’s a mighty long kick, and making it is improbable. And that is part of why the leverage penalty called on Denver in that situation is fairly inexplicable.

“Let me start by saying, obviously, a disappointing loss,” head coach Sean Payton said in his postgame press conference. “We did a lot of things late in that game to keep us from winning. It'll be painful to watch that film. And yet, we'll get the corrections made. So, starts with me, our staff. But we had a number of opportunities to not be in that position late, and unfortunately, we shot ourselves in the foot too many times.”

The leverage penalty was one of a series of mistakes in the fourth quarter by Denver that kept the club from being 2-0. After J.K. Dobbins showed some burst on a 23-yard carry down to the Indianapolis 20, he received a delay of game penalty for spiking the ball. Then a facemask penalty backed Denver up 15 yards, stalling the drive. And finally, kicker Wil Lutz banged a 42-yard field goal off the right upright to keep the score at 28-26.

Plus, on the Broncos’ previous drive, quarterback Bo Nix tossed an interception to Cam Bynum deep in Indianapolis territory to keep points off the board.

“[L]ook, we’ve got to be smart,” Payton said. “You can't spike the ball and then we’ve got to capitalize on our field goal opportunity.

“There will be a bitter taste in our mouth for a little bit, and it's because we put ourselves in a position to control that game late, and then it slipped out of our hands. So, it's hard.”

At 1-1, the Broncos will be on the road again to face the Chargers in Week 4.