The Vikings may have discovered America a thousand years ago, but could not cover Courtland Sutton with 63 seconds to go Sunday night.

The Broncos’ wide receiver, for the second successive game, made a heroic touchdown catch, and the Denver defense stopped Minnesota cold to produce a fourth consecutive victory.

With back-to-back thrilling triumphs in less than a week by a total of three points the former heart-breaking Broncos are now the heart-beating Broncos of the NFL. They have displaced the Vikings with the longest current win streak in the league and most definitely can consider playoff possibilities with a 5-5 record.

And Sutton has touchdown receptions in eight straight games.

And the defense has 12 turnovers in 12 quarters.

And Russell Wilson was as meticulous as a brain surgeon at the finish to outplay the rocket scientist Joshua Dobbs.

Goodness gracious, great footballs of fire!

Coach Sean Payton declared before the season that he would be (peeved) if this Broncos team didn’t reach the postseason. After five games it seemed like the Broncos wouldn’t reach the end of October in the regular season with any chance of a winning record for the first time since 2016, must less a playoff game for the first time since Super Bowl 50. The Broncos began 1-5. But they have beaten the Packers, the Chiefs, the Bills and the Vikings in the past four games with seven weeks ahead.

How did this happen?

Well, the Broncos had been torched for 133 points (a league worse 44.3 per game) in three games earlier in the season. Since then they have allowed only 108 points (18 points per) in six games. It looked Vance Joseph would be run out of town soon for a second time. But the Broncos got rid of a couple of slug defenders, inserted new starters at three positions and got healthier and wiser at other positions. Joseph simplified the complicated defensive schemes. And Payton showed enough trust in Vance, who advanced, to keep him around.

Payton also didn’t jettison his field-goal kicker, Wil Lutz, after a bad start, and the coach put more emphasis on the rush than on the pass.

He also found a common ground with Wilson, who could win the NFL’s comeback player of the year, stay here indefinitely and earn that quarter of a billion dollars.

The Broncos won’t surpass the Chiefs to win the AFC West, but a wild card certainly is in the offering if the Broncos win their final three home games and go into Las Vegas with a puncher’s chance.

The Broncos are survivors. They survived in Buffalo with a do-over field goal, and they survived in Denver with the 39th game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime by Wilson. They survived by not scoring a touchdown for almost 59 minutes Sunday night and having to settle five times for field goals. They survived a fake punt play that picked up 31 yards, they survived the most complex, complicated defense in the league Monday night, relying on Wilson to pass to backup running back Samaje Perine four times in the last possession. Three times were on third down. They survived Perine fumbling, but the football skipped out of bounds.

And they survived when Wilson chose to loft a pass deep in the end zone to Sutton, who was too loosely covered by replacement defensive back Mekhi Blackmon, late of the University of Colorado.

The Broncos didn’t look like survivors in the first half, which resulted in one touchdown, one turnover and a one-point difference with the Vikings ahead.

Dobbs was 11 of 13 for 126 yards, and Wilson completed 13 of 17 for 132 yards. Another difference was Dobbs, playing in just his third game since joining the Vikings, produced one touchdown pass to Minnesota’s other tight end — Josh Oliver.

The problem for the Broncos was they had just four possessions. The result was three field goals, including one at the beginning of the game after they forced Dobbs into a fumble and at the end of the second quarter.

During the winning streak the Broncos had depended on their running game, but they managed just 15 yards in the half. They finished with only 46. But they survived.

The Broncos have discovered winning.

Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton celebrates his touchdown with fans during the second half on an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

David Zalubowski