They were booed, pushed around and in deep trouble.

And then the Denver Broncos just rang the bell and kicked open the door to the old school. They erased an 11-point deficit and plowed their way to a 20-17 win Sunday against the San Diego Chargers at Invesco Field at Mile High.

"Man, I think we just got to the point where if we were going to lose, we were going to lose fighting," Broncos linebacker Al Wilson said. "If you don't like the way it's going, you have to do something about it. We did something about it, we got after them in the second half."

The win, in which the Broncos defense surrendered only 41 yards after halftime, puts them at 1-1 with the Kansas City Chiefs set to come to Invesco a week from today. It also kept the Broncos from losing a valuable home game to an AFC West opponent a week after looking overwhelmed at times in their season-opening loss in Miami.

"It's how you finish the deal," Chargers coach Marty Schotten-heimer said.

"Going into this game, we knew somebody was going to be 0-2," Broncos linebacker Ian Gold said. "We just didn't want it to be us."

And when kicker Jason Elam pounded a 41-yard field goal through the uprights with 5 seconds remaining in the game, the Broncos knew it wouldn't be them at 0-2. They also knew that when things got tight, they found it within themselves to push back.

In the first half, the Chargers built a 14-3 lead, the Broncos had turned over the ball inside the San Diego 20-yard line - a Mike Anderson fumble on the 2-yard line - and they had surrendered two rushing touchdowns to LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chargers' multitasking running back.

And pile that on top of the 34-10 bout of misery suffered by the Broncos to begin the season in Miami, and folks decided they had seen enough, raining down the boos on the Broncos.

"You tune it out," Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer said. "I almost fell for their trap. I looked up at the scoreboard and thought we were down 31-zip. But I looked up and realized we were in the ballgame and why would they be booing that early in the game?

"But fans buy a ticket, they can boo, cheer, call you names, say good things. We've got to go play ball."

So, go play ball they did.

Cornerback Champ Bailey, who had dislocated his left shoulder against the Dolphins and yet practiced four days later, then started Sunday, swooped in on a bad decision by Chargers quarterback Drew Brees.

On the Chargers' first play from scrimmage in the second half, Bailey grabbed a Brees pass intended for Keenan McCardell and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown. A 14-3 disaster-in-the-making was suddenly only a 14-10 San Diego lead with almost a half left to play.

"That was big, really big," Wilson said. "That's what you got to do, man. Big-time players step up and make big-time plays. It was a momentum shifter . . . once that happened, that train was rolling."

The Broncos just kept tightening the screws defensively. The Chargers rushed for only 17 yards in the second half, converted no third downs and the Broncos sacked Brees four times after halftime.

And after flirting with four-wide receiver sets in the first half that included empty backfields, the Broncos also turned to a two-tight end power look for the majority of the second half. The results were 60 yards rushing, 43 by Ron Dayne, and just enough offense to put together touchdown and field-goal drives in the fourth quarter.

"I just wanted to get a chance to play and help the team win," said Dayne, who was a game-day inactive against the Dolphins. "I'm not really worried about all the yards and the big touchdowns and stuff like that. Whatever it takes."

It all came together with a fourth-and-1 at the Chargers 33-yard line with 57 seconds to play in a game tied 17-17. Shunning what would have been a 50-yard field-goal attempt for Elam into the wind - Elam had missed two previous kicks, both 53-yard swings, with the wind in the third quarter - Broncos coach Mike Shanahan elected to line up in a two-tight end, two-back look.

The Chargers packed the middle of the field and reacted to Plummer's fake to fullback Kyle Johnson - Johnson had scored a touchdown on a similar play earlier in the quarter. Plummer then pivoted and quickly pitched the ball to Dayne, who powered around the left end for 10 yards and a first down.

After a spike of the ball by Plummer to stop the clock, Elam hit the winning kick.

"I was really nervous," Elam said. " . . . You sort of trust your swing and let it go. We had to have it. Hopefully, it's going to give us some swagger back, get us some confidence back. Miami just physically beat us, we had to get some confidence back."

"Any play, I'm ready for all the plays," Dayne said. "That's the whole thing. . . . Any time I can get out and show I can do this, do those type of things, I'm going to do it. It was just fun, being able to run and get down the field. Just run, do what I do."