Broncos are underdogs at home against Packers despite 10-game win streak

DENVER (AP) — For the first time in a decade, Denver Broncos (11-2) stand atop the AFC playoff race heading into the holidays. They're the league's only unbeaten team at home. They've won 10 consecutive games and they've saddled their last 11 visitors with a loss going back 14 months.

And they are 2 1/2-point underdogs at home to the Green Bay Packers (9-3-1) on Sunday, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

It's the NFL’s Week 15 marquee matchup, a tussle featuring Micah Parsons and Nik Bonitto, Jordan Love and Bo Nix, and pitting teams with obdurate defenses and opportunistic offenses that could very well serve as a Super Bowl appetizer.

Oddsmakers, though, have joined the legions of NFL fans who view the Broncos' longest winning streak in the post-Peyton Manning era with equal doses of criticism and skepticism.

“I love it. It fuels me, honestly,” Bonitto said. “I like when people doubt us. They can stay on that side. We'll go out and prove what we've got to prove.”

Just like they've been doing ever since their last-second loss at the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3, which followed a walk-off loss at Indianapolis. Since then, the Broncos have set an NFL record with nine consecutive comebacks, a streak that ended last week with a comfortable win at Las Vegas, and tied another mark with four straight wins by a field goal or less.

The Broncos have grown accustomed to all the doubters who view their pile of close victories with more suspicion than admiration and who keep suggesting their live-on-the-edge habits don't make for a sustainable winning recipe.

“Personally, I couldn't care less,” All-Pro kick returner Marvin Mims Jr. said. “But I mean some guys feel disrespected by it.”

Bo Nix isn't among those who feel offended by the national suspicion of the Broncos' championship bona fides — or those who install them as home underdogs.

“My mom thinks we’ll win,” the Broncos' second-year quarterback said with a laugh. “So that’s all that matters.”

Packers wide receiver Christian Watson didn’t start playing until Oct. 26 as he returned from a torn ACL, but the 2022 second-round pick still could end up having his best season.

Watson has scored five touchdowns, all in his last four games. He has 25 catches for 452 yards in seven games. The TD total is his highest since his rookie season, when he had nine.

“He’s making plays, it feels like, every time the ball comes his way,” Love said. “I think he keeps elevating and getting better and better.”

According to Elias Sports Bureau, this marks the second straight year — and the fourth time ever — that the Packers have faced a team that has won at least 10 straight games with all the victories in the same season. Last season, the Packers lost 34-31 at Detroit for the Lions’ 11th straight victory.

The Packers won their other two times in this situation. They beat Detroit 3-0 on Nov. 25, 1934, and they defeated Seattle 23-17 on Jan. 1, 2006.

The trip to Denver is sandwiched between two games against the rival Chicago Bears. The Packers snapped Chicago’s five-game winning streak with a 28-21 victory at Lambeau Field on Sunday. The Packers face the Bears again on Dec. 20 in Chicago.

“What a great challenge,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “But also, I think there’s great opportunity that goes with that.”

The Broncos also have a challenging stretch run with visits from the Jaguars and Chargers, both 9-4, sandwiched around a Christmas night game at Kansas City, where the Broncos haven't won since 2015.

Sunday’s game features two of the NFL’s most prolific pass rushers in Green Bay’s Parsons and Denver’s Bonitto. They each have 12 1/2 sacks this season, putting them in a tie for third in the league.

Since the NFL started officially tracking sacks in 1982, Parsons is the first player to have at least 12 in each of his first five seasons. Bonitto could join Simon Fletcher as the only Broncos ever to have at least 13 1/2 sacks in back-to-back seasons.

It's not just Bonitto the Packers are concerned about. The Broncos lead the league with 55 sacks, putting them on pace for 72, which would tie the NFL record set by the 1984 Bears.

“I think they have a really solid group all around,” Love said. “It’s not just one guy that you can finger-point out, but all around that defense and especially that D-line, you look at it and they got playmakers and guys who are making plays and winning their 1-on-1 matchups. It’s a little bit different than a team that maybe only has one solid edge rusher that you make sure you get chips and lockdown that side.”

And don't forget Denver's stout secondary, led by reigning NFL defensive player of the year Pat Surtain II.

“There’s sometimes you see on film when he’s breaking on things before the receiver’s even breaking,” Love said. “I think it just goes into his film study, his knowledge of the game and his confidence in himself. I think he does a lot of things at a very high level.”

AP Sports Writers Pat Graham and Steve Megargee contributed to this report.

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Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) runs against Chicago Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson, left, during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Denver Broncos running back Tyler Badie runs against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of an NFL football game in Las Vegas, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love looks to throw a pass against the Chicago Bears during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) passes against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of an NFL football game in Las Vegas, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

PHILIPSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia was freed from immigration detention on a judge's order Thursday while he fights to stay in the U.S., handing a major victory to the immigrant whose wrongful deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador made him a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to let Abrego Garcia go immediately, writing that federal authorities had detained him again after his return to the United States without any legal basis.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney’s office confirmed he was released just before 5 p.m., the deadline the judge gave the government for an update on Abrego Garcia’s release. His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, earlier told The Associated Press that Abrego Garcia plans to return to Maryland, where he has an American wife and child and where he has lived for years after originally immigrating to the U.S. illegally as a teenager.

Abrego Garcia had been held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said he’s not sure what comes next, but he’s prepared to defend his client against further deportation efforts.

“The government still has plenty of tools in their toolbox, plenty of tricks up their sleeve,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, adding he fully expects the government to again take steps to deport his client. “We’re going to be there to fight to make sure there is a fair trial.”

The Department of Homeland Security sharply criticized the judge's decision and vowed to appeal, calling the ruling “naked judicial activism” by a judge appointed during the Obama administration.

“This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said the judge made it clear that the government can’t detain someone indefinitely without legal authority and that his client “has endured more than anyone should ever have to.”

Abrego Garcia, with an American wife and child, has lived in Maryland for years but entered the U.S. illegally as a teenager. An immigration judge ruled in 2019 that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family. When he was mistakenly sent there in March, his case became a rallying point for those who oppose President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement actions.

A court later ordered his return to the United States. Since he cannot be removed to El Salvador, ICE has been seeking to deport him to a series of African countries. His federal suit claims the Trump administration is illegally using the removal process to punish Abrego Garcia for the public embarrassment caused by his deportation.

In her order releasing Abrego Garcia, Xinis wrote that federal authorities “did not just stonewall” the court, “They affirmatively misled the tribunal.” The judge was referencing the successive list of four African countries that officials had sought to remove Abrego Garcia to, seemingly without commitments from those countries, as well as officials' affirmations that Costa Rica withdrew its offer to accept him, a claim later proven untrue.

“But Costa Rica had never wavered in its commitment to receive Abrego Garcia, just as Abrego Garcia never wavered in his commitment to resettle there,” the judge wrote.

Xinis also rejected the government’s argument that she lacked jurisdiction to intervene on a final removal order for Abrego Garcia, because she found no final order had been filed.

Separately, Abrego Garcia is asking an immigration court to reopen his case so he can seek asylum in the United States.

He is also criminally charged in Tennessee, where he has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling. He has asked the federal court to dismiss the case, arguing the prosecution is vindictive. His defense attorney in Tennessee, Sean Hecker, declined to comment.

Loller reported from Nashville and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington and Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

FILE - Kilmar Abrego Garcia joins supporters in a protest rally outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)