It wasn’t pretty for nearly 59 minutes for the Broncos on Sunday night. But the last minute and change was pretty darn good.

Quarterback Russell Wilson threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton with 1:03 left to give Denver a 21-20 win over Minnesota at Empower Field at Mile High.

After a two-point conversion run failed, the Vikings had a chance to win the game on their final drive and they have kicker Greg Joseph, who was making 63-yard boots with ease in warmups. But the Broncos swarmed quarterback Joshua Dobbs down the stretch and Minnesota never came close to a field-goal attempt.

It was the fourth straight win for the Broncos, who moved to 5-5. They are now in sole possession of second place in the AFC West.

“We knew we were going to win this game,’’ Wilson said. “That’s how we felt.”

It sure didn’t look that way throughout the game. After the Broncos fell behind 7-3 when Dobbs threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Josh Oliver on the first play of the second quarter, they didn’t lead until Wilson’s pass to Sutton concluded a 75-yard drive.

“The guy has been lights out,’’ Wilson said of Sutton, who caught four passes for 66 yards. “He’s dominant. He’s playing like he’s an All-Pro, Pro Bowl player.”

The Broncos were sluggish on offense for much of the game but stayed alive thanks to getting three takeaways, the third straight game in which they have had three or more. They got a fumble recovery from nickel back Ja’Quan McMillian, a fumble recovery from Josey Jewell and an interception from McMillian.

“I think there was a little change (in momentum),’’ Jewell said of the turnovers. “We kind of felt it and we knew we could beat this team. They’re a good team, but we knew we just had to do our jobs and be consistent with it and we’d come out with a W. … We’re holding those guys up and trying to punch (the ball out) and the picks keep on coming for the (defensive backs). It looks good.”

However, the Broncos were able to get just nine points off those three turnovers, all on field goals by Wil Lutz. Lutz was 5-of 5-on field-goal attempts, including a 52-yarder on the final play of the first half that cut the deficit to 10-9. Denver couldn’t get into the end zone until Wilson’s late pass to Sutton.

“A crazy game in a lot of ways,’’ said Broncos coach Sean Payton. “It was good for us to come out of there with a win. It was one of these games when you looked at the stat line, Minnesota did a number of things better than us.”

The Vikings (6-5), who had their five-game winning streak snapped, outgained the Broncos 385 yards to 295 yards, including 175-46 on the ground. Dobbs completed 20 of 32 passes for 221 yards and Alexander Mattison carried 18 times for 81 yards. The Vikings got a 31-yard run on a fake punt in the fourth quarter by Ty Chandler that kept a drive alive for a 30-yard field goal by Joseph for a 20-15 lead with 3:17 remaining.

In the end, Wilson ended up having the better game between the two quarterbacks even though the Broncos were just 2 of 12 on third-down conversions. He completed 27 of 35 passes for 259 yards and the touchdown pass to Sutton.

“Our third-down numbers were poor, but we took the ball away three times and we didn’t turn the ball over,’’ Payton said.

And when the game was on the line, Wilson drove the Broncos 75 yards in 10 plays while taking 2:14 off the clock.

“I think it’s believing, I think it’s execution and I think it’s us all having a mentality that we’re going to win this game,’’ Wilson said of the drive.

Wilson hit Sutton in the back left side of the end zone and the crowd erupted in celebration. Wilson said he ‘just tried to put it in a place where only” Sutton could get it

“We had a play initially called and Russ saw the defense they were going to give us, and we alerted it,” Sutton said. “We had a really good alert, a lot of good options. He just gave me a chance to go make a play.”

The last drive featured running back Samaje Perine catching five passes for 48 yards. He had seven catches in the game for 60 yards.

Jerry Jeudy added five receptions for 58 receptions. On the ground, Javonte Williams was Denver’s leading rusher but had just a meager 37 yards on 11 carries.

Nevertheless, the Broncos are back to .500. They haven’t been there since starting the season 0-0 on Sept. 10 against the Las Vegas Raiders.

“It feels amazing,’’ said outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper, who had vowed on Friday to sack Dobbs and did just that in the second quarter. “Let’s just keep going.”

The Broncos have turned their season around after starting out 0-3 and 1-5 but Wilson stressed there are plenty of more big games ahead.

“The best thing for us is we can be better if we keep working,’’ he said.

The Broncos are trying to become just the fifth team in NFL history to make the playoffs after a 1-5 start. Cincinnati, which actually started 1-6, did it in 1970, Kansas City in 2015, Indianapolis in 2018 and Washington in 2020.